Artistic License Law: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Strong Bad''': This is a sub-poe-eena! I summons Exhibit 4-B to my chambers!<br />

'''Homestar Runner''': Sustained! (hits self in face with gavel)|''[[Homestar Runner (Web Animation)|Homestar Runner]]''}}

* [[Conviction Byby Contradiction]]: While a legal case has to hold together logically to some extent, "logic dictates that this must be what happened" is ''not'' sufficient for a conviction. Not to mention, most crimes aren't simple logic puzzles anyways - Most "Solve it yourself" Mysteries are actually presented this way because the average person does not have the skills of a trained detective or inspector.

** [[Conviction Byby Counterfactual Clue]]: Even ''worse'', because you can even ''point out'' that you're convicted for a ''wrong reason''.

* [[Eagleland Osmosis]]: not purely a law trope, but it's one of the worst-affected professions. People in every country have seen a lot of American [[Law Procedural|Law Procedurals]]s, and often [[Did Not Do the Research]] when making one set in their own country.

*** Canadians don't have a "Fifth Amendment" at all; instead we have the Canada Evidence Act. You cannot refuse to testify in a court of law and under oath; however, if you testify under the protection of the above-named act, the police and the courts cannot use your testimony as evidence against you(although this doesn't mean that the police can't use your testimony as a starting point for an investigation). There's also a similar provision in the Charter.

*** The fifth time that Canada's constitution was amended was to allow Parliament to sit for longer than usual in the middle of [[World War OneI]]. It, uh, doesn't help you in court much.

*** Similarly, a judge is called "My lord" in Canada, but many people without a law degree call them "Your honour" instead.

** Due to our television viewing being largely American in origin, many Canadians believe that invoking the right to remain silent means the interrogation is over. Under Canadian constitutional law, the suspect does have the right to refuse to answer questions... but the police have the right to keep asking them. The exception to this is if the suspect asks for a lawyer; the police have to give them the opportunity to consult with one before any further questioning, but once they do, the lawyer doesn't have to be present for any subsequent questioning. This also means the common "Only contact me through my lawyer" demand suspects give in fiction doesn't apply.

*** That's the same as in America - the right to remain silent is EXACTLY''exactly'' that, the right to remain silent. Not the right to stop the questioning (although if you aren't under arrest or being charged with something you can stop it), but the right not to answer questions. Cops can then try to use difficult or incriminating questions which will get a response out of you.

**** Actually the right to remain silent is the right to end the interview, there was a supreme court case a year or two ago{{when}} where someone after much questioning where he had been silent admitted to something, the defense tried to get it thrown out claiming that he had been exercising his right to remain silent, but the court ruled that simply being quiet isn't enough as you may want to hear what the police have to say, to actually exercise your right you have to explicitly tell them that the interview is over at which point they are NOT''not'' allowed to keep questioning you.

* [[High Altitude Interrogation]]: The one interrogation method that is ''worse'' than [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]. Rather than torture someone, this takes awful interrogation [[Incredibly Lame Pun|to new heights]] by threatening to ''kill'' the potential informer. Unlike in fiction, threatening to kill the [[Mooks|mook]] who has inside knowledge of the [[Big Bad|Big Bad's]]'s activities means that you're willing to follow through with that should he be non-compliant, but unless you have other people in custody that would likely know the same information who you can interrogate, too, you would unsurprisingly be ending any chance of attaining that knowledge as well as any chance of uncovering new leads to follow if he's killed. Dead men can't tell tales, after all. Even if it's meant as an empty threat, the informer might think that his interrogator would kill him, anyway, which would also make him much less willing to cooperate.

** Perp will tell the Copper whatever the Copper wants to hear. Some states apply the Common Law and confession from this is NOT''not'' evidence. Some states though apply the Civil Law and the confession IS evidence.

* [[Insanity Defense]]: In real life, if an Insanity Defense works, the defendant doesn't walk out of court a free man. He walks out of court in the company of a couple of burly orderlies from a mental institution. Whether he ever walks out of ''there'' a free man depends on the psychiatrists and psychologists.

** For that matter, the time spent in the mental institution is often longer than the normal sentence would be. John HinkleyHinckley (who attempted the assassination of President Reagan), for example, would probably be free by now had he been found guilty.

** ''[[Cracked.com]]'' brings us [http://www.cracked.com/article_18385_7-bullshit-police-myths-everyone-believes-thanks-to-movies.html 7 Bullshit Police Myths Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies)], detailing this trope, among others.

** When this trope is invoked by non-insane defendants on [[police proceduralsprocedural]]s it's often to avoid a potentially worse sentence (like the death penalty). This is generally [[Truth in Television]] - the majority of insanity defense are used in murder cases.

* [[Interrogation Byby Vandalism]]: Damage to property (or threatening to) is illegal anyway, let alone when used to get information.

*** The "Scots Verdict," "Not Proven," has been translated as "Not Guilty and Don't Do It Again." (It has the same legal effect as an acquittal but perhaps allows the jury to feel better about it.) People have been know to appeal the "not proven" verdict because the stigma attached.

*** Common Law assumes Innocent unless proven Guilty: you must be proven guilty beyond alla reasonable doubt. Civil Law assumes the balance of probabilities; if you probably done it, then, you are liable. [[Mary Queen of Scots]] tried to impose the Civil Law on Scotland and the compromise was the Scots Verdict: "Ye probably done it, but there is nae enough evidence tae hang ye."

* [[Off Onon a Technicality]]: [[Truth in Television]] again, less often than a lot of people realize, and mostly at the appeal level than in the original trial. At that, most fictional examples of this trope show it happening much more frequently and for reasons that would never stand in a real trial, ofteningoften involving dismissing evidence through a grand misappropriation of Miranda Rights.

{{quote| '''[http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/law/back20010724.shtml Bob Ingersoll]''': In my law firm I am considered one of the more successful lawyers when it comes to getting evidence deemed inadmissable, which I have done one time in my twenty-five years at the firm.}}

** From January 1/1/11, 2011, Australia's introduced the Australian Consumer Law, which prevents standard form contract (generally, contracts that are not open to negotiation) for consumers (typically people who buy goods for personal or household use) to have disclaimers against low quality, unsuitability or liability caused by the products, unless it is reasonably necessary to protect the interest of the supplier. However, care must be taken to ensure that the person you're dealing with is a supplier (so private selling or shady traders won't be affected by the law).

** In Germany, there's a special law for general terms and conditions of contracts that are predefined by the seller or service provider and not negotiable. The most important part of the law is that anything that would be "unexpected" to find in such a contract is automatically null and void and replaced by the standard terms for business when nothing else is negotiated. These standard terms are usually much more beneficial for the customer than what the business would be legalylegally allowed to put into a contract. This encourages business owners to very carefully check their general terms and conditions because if any mistake is found, it's them who will get screwed.

*** This is one of the few law tropes ''[[Law and Order (TV)|Law and& Order]]'' gets right every time they invoke it.

* [[There Is No Higher Court]]: Lots of cases are appealed at least one step up the chain. (See [[Off Onon a Technicality]].) Very few get to either State or Federal Supreme Court level, though. It has to involve constitutional issues, not just regular errors, for this.

** And don't get me started on Brazil, possibly the biggest aversion to this trope ever. Due to the lack, until very recently,{{when}} of Erga Omnes<ref> basically, the power to make a decision be binding for all similar cases</ref> in supreme court decisions in Brazil, any judgment or 'precedent' made by the court was valid only for that specific case only! So virtually anyone who had the money and patience could and would keep making appeals all the way up to the supreme court. And why would they want to do that, you might ask? Simple: if you're not on trial for a violent crime or haven't been convicted of a previous one, you don't have to go jail until your final appeal... which can take over a decade. SomtimesSometimes, allowing for enough time to pass and the stature of limitations to kick in. [http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/cms/verTexto.asp?servico=estatistica&pagina=movimentoProcessual No wonder the court judges over 100.000 cases per annum]!

#*# If someone has been successfully framed for a serious crime, they most likely aren't free to investigate it. They're in jail.

#*# To the legal system, ''why'' you committed a crime is utterly irrelevant. Having a good reason doesn't get you any points unless, say, it gets murder knocked down to involuntary manslaughter.

[[Category:Artistic License Indexes]]

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