Tropescilloscope: Artistic License – Law

Law and legal proceedings are presented in a way that isn't factually accurate. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Mythology Gag The X of Y The Film of the Book Costume Porn I'm a Humanitarian Tap on the Head Author Appeal Expy Martial Arts Movie Not So Above It All Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Children Are Innocent Outrun the Fireball Exactly What It Says on the Tin Does This Remind You of Anything? Laser-Guided Karma It's Personal Spared by the Adaptation Slasher Smile Pre-Mortem One-Liner Redshirt Army Man on Fire Crucified Hero Shot Video Credits War Is Hell And Starring Mundane Made Awesome Corpsing Rule of Three Redemption Equals Death Manipulative Bastard Genre Shift Mr. Exposition A Father to His Men Historical In-Joke Naïve Newcomer The Mafia Daylight Horror Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Stealth Pun Dissonant Serenity Better to Die than Be Killed Blood Knight Knight Templar In the Back '80s Hair Cat Fight Woman in White Black Best Friend Crapsack World The Ace Plucky Comic Relief Fatal Family Photo You Killed My Father Grey and Gray Morality Chekhov's Gun Wretched Hive Leitmotif Bittersweet Ending You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Creative Closing Credits Meaningful Echo Nothing Is Scarier The Lost Lenore Mighty Whitey Stock Footage Beware the Nice Ones Demoted to Extra Shown Their Work The Dog Bites Back Would Hit a Girl Chase Scene Coming-of-Age Story Age Lift The Great Depression Precision F-Strike Made of Iron Trailers Always Spoil Bullying a Dragon The Hero Dies Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Gainax Ending Air-Vent Passageway I Did What I Had to Do Evil Brit Those Wacky Nazis Badass Normal Stalker with a Crush Silence Is Golden Taking the Bullet Canon Foreigner Show Within a Show Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Badass Longcoat An Aesop Dark and Troubled Past As You Know Big Applesauce Almost Kiss Historical-Domain Character Dull Surprise Face Death with Dignity Everyone Has Standards Mind Screw The '60s Tagline Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Ass Shove It Can Think It's All About Me Kill It with Fire Call-Back For the Evulz Truth in Television Have a Gay Old Time Break the Cutie Real Life Extreme Doormat You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Rated M for Manly An Axe to Grind Psychological Thriller Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Final Girl Stealth Hi/Bye Reality Ensues Slashed Throat Bavarian Fire Drill I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Eye Scream The Alcoholic Disproportionate Retribution Adaptational Villainy Revenge The Voiceless Ambiguously Gay Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Animated Credits Opening Bare Your Midriff Informed Ability Our Vampires Are Different Even Evil Has Standards All There in the Script Fatal Flaw The Vamp The '90s Fantasy Films Enemy Mine Stuff Blowing Up Dropped a Bridge on Him Off with His Head! Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Protagonist Title Mooks The Un-Reveal Skewed Priorities Take a Third Option Dirty Old Man Pretty Little Headshots Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Fourth Date Marriage I Have Your Wife The Dreaded Men Are the Expendable Gender Parental Neglect Combat Pragmatist Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Only One Name Random Events Plot Hypocrite Adults Are Useless Boom, Headshot! Scenery Gorn Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Depraved Bisexual Retcon Fate Worse than Death Funny Background Event There Is No Kill Like Overkill Insult Backfire Shipper on Deck Thriller Evil Sounds Deep Anyone Can Die Pretty in Mink Light Is Not Good Knife Nut The Chessmaster One-Word Title Death of a Child The Sociopath Deadpan Snarker Male Frontal Nudity Batman Gambit Villain Ball The Stoner Parental Abandonment Black and Gray Morality Straight Gay Good Is Not Nice Not Even Bothering with the Accent Adorkable The Dragon N-Word Privileges Token Minority Despair Event Horizon Papa Wolf The Stinger A Date with Rosie Palms Disney Death Rich Bitch Mistaken for Gay Cool Old Guy No Celebrities Were Harmed Karmic Death Calling the Old Man Out Those Two Bad Guys Early Installment Weirdness Leave the Camera Running Irony Throwing Your Sword Always Works An Arm and a Leg Anti-Hero Kubrick Stare Gender Flip Twist Ending Ms. Fanservice Badass Bookworm Camp Gay Training Montage Evil Laugh Bring My Brown Pants Animal Motifs The Oner Lampshade Hanging Spell My Name with an "S" Unreliable Narrator Storming the Castle Greater-Scope Villain Soft Glass Roaring Rampage of Revenge Refuge in Audacity Unspoken Plan Guarantee Death by Irony Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Dwindling Party Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Spanner in the Works Continuity Nod Only Known by Their Nickname Blackmail Bait-and-Switch Hair-Trigger Temper Toplessness from the Back She Cleans Up Nicely Adaptation Expansion Bloodier and Gorier Cool Car It Will Never Catch On Downer Ending Unusually Uninteresting Sight Action Genre Amoral Attorney Rousing Speech Heroes Want Redheads Captain Ersatz Villain Song Funny Foreigner Early-Bird Cameo Evil-Detecting Dog Re-Cut Loophole Abuse Actor Allusion Aluminum Christmas Trees NO INDOOR VOICE Sir Swears-a-Lot The Cavalry Suspiciously Similar Substitute Self-Deprecation Cat Scare Not So Different Retirony Sinister Minister Affably Evil Foreshadowing Pyrrhic Victory Rule of Symbolism Scare Chord Loads and Loads of Characters Eagleland Villain with Good Publicity Russian Films Hong Kong Films Oh, Crap! My Beloved Smother Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Well-Intentioned Extremist Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Expository Hairstyle Change Never Found the Body Reasonable Authority Figure Historical Hero Upgrade Rule of Cool Gorn The Cameo Obviously Evil Double Entendre Horror Films The Alleged Car Intrepid Reporter Bond One-Liner Animal Title Index Black Comedy Rape How We Got Here The Quiet One Disguised in Drag Bar Brawl Race Lift Fantastic Racism "The Reason You Suck" Speech Shell-Shocked Veteran Sequel Hook Diabolus ex Machina Chiaroscuro Documentary Improbable Aiming Skills Pet the Dog Faking the Dead Action Prologue Damsel in Distress Meet Cute Military and Warfare Films Brutal Honesty Dumb Blonde Demonic Possession Adaptation Dye-Job Japanese Films Villain Protagonist Psychopathic Manchild Sole Survivor Fish out of Water Ship Tease Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Product Placement Exact Words The Bully The Atoner Wham Line Cassandra Truth MacGuffin No OSHA Compliance "Shaggy Dog" Story "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue My God, What Have I Done? Same Language Dub As Long as It Sounds Foreign Kill 'em All Logo Joke Sequel Escalation Red Oni, Blue Oni Adaptational Attractiveness Happily Married Fiery Redhead Nice Guy Word of God Not So Stoic Authority Equals Asskicking Not Quite Dead Major Injury Underreaction One-Man Army Evil Counterpart Composite Character Insistent Terminology Shirtless Scene Noodle Incident He Who Fights Monsters Older Than They Look Jerk with a Heart of Gold Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Line-of-Sight Name Department of Redundancy Department Body Horror Award-Bait Song Novelization Adaptational Badass Killed Mid-Sentence Playing Gertrude Destination Defenestration Sexy Discretion Shot Annoying Younger Sibling Closed Circle The Musical Easily Forgiven Dark Reprise The Stoic Red Herring Dying Moment of Awesome Hope Spot Screw the Rules, I Have Money! The '70s Creepy Child Flashback Death Seeker Wham Shot Hollywood Law Mr. Fanservice All for Nothing Four-Temperament Ensemble Offscreen Moment of Awesome Punch-Clock Villain Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Film Noir Shoot the Shaggy Dog From Bad to Worse Every Car Is a Pinto Hidden Depths Too Dumb to Live Accidental Murder Empathic Environment Mystery and Detective Films Made of Explodium Due to the Dead British Films Determinator Really Gets Around Police are Useless Chekhov's Skill Badass Grandpa Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! The Hero Broken Bird Bloody Hilarious Anachronic Order Vomit Indiscretion Shot Romantic Comedy Historical Villain Upgrade Needs Wiki Magic Love Shout-Out Guile Hero Let's Get Dangerous! Blood from the Mouth Retired Badass Ambiguous Disorder Vampire Fiction The Big Guy Earn Your Happy Ending Domestic Abuse Offscreen Teleportation Actually Pretty Funny Serial Killer Arc Words Back from the Dead Obfuscating Stupidity Canadian Movies Alliterative Name All Men Are Perverts Card-Carrying Villain The Mole Humiliation Conga Last-Name Basis Meaningful Name Alpha Bitch Disney Villain Death Artistic License – Military Cool Shades Pragmatic Villainy This Is Gonna Suck Betty and Veronica Big Brother Instinct Daddy's Girl Alas, Poor Villain Evil vs. Evil Spiritual Successor Lock and Load Montage Pimped-Out Dress Freeze-Frame Bonus Comically Missing the Point Reality Is Unrealistic Bury Your Gays Hypocritical Humor Moment Killer Central Theme Recycled IN SPACE! Action Survivor Bond Villain Stupidity Visual Pun Plot Hole Say My Name No Name Given Faux Affably Evil Catch-Phrase Bald of Evil Morality Pet Ungrateful Bastard Half the Man He Used to Be The Chick Slasher Movie Public Domain Feature Films "Well Done, Son!" Guy A God Am I O.O.C. Is Serious Business Fanservice Our Zombies Are Different Ominous Latin Chanting Pragmatic Adaptation Horror Comedy Covers Always Lie Running Gag Badass Boast Mexican Standoff Big Bad Camera Abuse Worthy Opponent Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Australian Movies Bi the Way Only Sane Man Drowning My Sorrows Artistic License – Biology Biopic Friend to All Children Implacable Man Improvised Weapon The End... Or Is It? Epic Movie Large Ham Wounded Gazelle Gambit Drill Sergeant Nasty Spiteful Spit Big Bad Duumvirate Heel Realization "Awesome McCool" Name Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Bunny-Ears Lawyer Shower Scene Love at First Sight Cloudcuckoolander Ripped from the Headlines Time Skip No Antagonist Author Avatar Posthumous Character Framing Device Drugs Are Bad Artistic License – Geography Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Fanservice Extra The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Cool Guns Book-Ends The Bad Guy Wins Super Strength Bound and Gagged Abusive Parents Whole Plot Reference Distracted by the Sexy The Lancer Woman Scorned Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Insane Troll Logic The Ditz Dual Wielding Here We Go Again! Freudian Excuse Dramedy Eldritch Abomination Never Trust a Trailer Vacation Films timeperiod Science Fiction Films Darker and Edgier The '50s Missing Mom Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Evil Is Petty Taking You with Me Took a Level in Jerkass Not What It Looks Like Apocalypse How Kick the Dog Paper-Thin Disguise Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Epic Fail Casting Gag Cluster F-Bomb Decoy Protagonist Rule of Funny Green-Eyed Monster Male Gaze Politically Incorrect Villain Wicked Cultured Heroic Sacrifice Developing Doomed Characters Didn't Think This Through Vomit Discretion Shot Sports Stories Fun with Acronyms Peek-a-Boo Corpse Meaningful Background Event Neck Lift Artistic License – Law Artistic License – Physics The '80s One Steve Limit Nice Hat Crazy-Prepared Overly Long Gag All Just a Dream Italian Films Hooker with a Heart of Gold Rape as Drama Mad Scientist In Name Only Adult Fear Totally Radical Put on a Bus Fake Shemp Intergenerational Friendship My Greatest Failure Brick Joke Cowboy Cop Adaptation Distillation And I Must Scream Kids Are Cruel Police Brutality Brainless Beauty Hell Is That Noise Hero of Another Story Villain Opening Scene Unusual Euphemism Dirty Cop Contrived Coincidence Red Eyes, Take Warning Suspiciously Specific Denial Catapult Nightmare Overprotective Dad Country Matters Vitriolic Best Buds Very Loosely Based on a True Story Black Dude Dies First Foil Silent Movie Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Parental Incest Romantic False Lead La Résistance Jerkass Beard of Evil Bad "Bad Acting" All There in the Manual Jitter Cam Victoria's Secret Compartment And the Adventure Continues Film Noir Index Shut Up, Hannibal! Not Using the "Z" Word Danny Peary Cult Movies List Car Fu The Place Frame-Up Five-Man Band Did Not Get the Girl Anachronism Stew From Nobody to Nightmare The Starscream Television Movie Index Bland-Name Product Drives Like Crazy Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Music Stories Handicapped Badass The Casanova Together in Death Parental Substitute Bilingual Bonus Curb-Stomp Battle Guns Akimbo Hoist by His Own Petard What the Hell, Hero? Names to Run Away from Really Fast Dramatic Irony Off-into-the-Distance Ending Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Asshole Victim Reality Has No Subtitles Belligerent Sexual Tension Room Full of Crazy I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Chewing the Scenery Unresolved Sexual Tension Mama Bear Mercy Kill Artistic License – Gun Safety Bloodless Carnage The Ghost Maybe Ever After French Films Yandere Eiffel Tower Effect May–December Romance Face–Heel Turn Awesome, but Impractical Badass in a Nice Suit Small Name, Big Ego Bolivian Army Ending Big-Bad Ensemble Match Cut Mood Whiplash Sadistic Choice Advertised Extra Malevolent Masked Men Auto Erotica Neck Snap Black Comedy Bad Boss Rewatch Bonus Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Dies Wide Open Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Dressing as the Enemy Scenery Porn Jerkass Has a Point Imagine Spot Sci-Fi Horror Flipping the Bird Star-Crossed Lovers Grievous Bottley Harm Establishing Character Moment Babies Ever After Villainous Breakdown No-Holds-Barred Beatdown As the Good Book Says... Undying Loyalty Get Out! After the End Gone Horribly Right Scary Black Man The Power of Love Anguished Declaration of Love Riddle for the Ages Red Shirt Smoking Is Cool Zombie Stories The Brute No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Kick the Son of a Bitch Lighter and Softer Breaking the Fourth Wall Eureka Moment Works Set in World War II Tempting Fate Sacrificial Lion Suddenly SHOUTING! Real Life Writes the Plot Stepford Smiler Slap-Slap-Kiss Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Conspicuous CG No Ending Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Arch-Enemy Deus ex Machina Mugging the Monster I Need a Freaking Drink Karma Houdini Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Poor Communication Kills Heroic BSoD Sealed Evil in a Can Fingore Action Girl Heterosexual Life-Partners Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Dirty Coward Curse Cut Short Genre Savvy Evil Is Hammy Attempted Rape Hero Antagonist Dark Is Not Evil Title Drop Adaptation Name Change Serious Business Dogged Nice Guy Your Head A-Splode Love Triangle He Knows Too Much Affectionate Parody Bottomless Magazines Abhorrent Admirer Fan Disservice Deconstruction Armor-Piercing Question Character Development Hate Sink Homage Make It Look Like an Accident Instant Death Bullet Even Evil Has Loved Ones Amusing Injuries Determinator aka: The Determinator True Companions Humans Are Bastards Laughing Mad Cool Old Lady Obstructive Bureaucrat Crazy Jealous Guy Ascended Extra Femme Fatale Disappeared Dad Superhero Hollywood Darkness In Medias Res Death by Sex Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Getting Crap Past the Radar Jump Scare Madness Mantra Chekhov's Gunman Cold-Blooded Torture The Load Groin Attack Would Hurt a Child Aside Glance Those Two Guys Big "NO!" Important Haircut B-Movie Wrong Genre Savvy Death Glare Accidental Misnaming Be Careful What You Wish For Death by Adaptation Idiot Ball Once More, with Clarity! Broken Aesop Properly Paranoid Big Eater Punny Name Take That! Credits Gag Artistic License – History Soundtrack Dissonance Never My Fault As Himself Your Cheating Heart Motor Mouth BFG Facial Horror Ax-Crazy Deal with the Devil Ghost Fiction Failed a Spot Check Beta Couple Antagonist Title The Reveal Christmas Movies Index Adapted Out Interrupted Suicide Adaptational Heroism World of Ham Ambiguous Ending Big Damn Heroes Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Extremely Short Timespan Bowdlerise Break the Haughty Gilligan Cut Translation Convention Manic Pixie Dream Girl Fire-Forged Friends Film Series The Smurfette Principle Market-Based Title Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Unwitting Instigator of Doom Non-Indicative Name Gold Digger Creator Cameo What You Are in the Dark Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Naked People Are Funny Setting Update Monumental Damage Immune to Bullets Heel–Face Turn Famous Last Words Henpecked Husband Pay Evil unto Evil A.I. Is a Crapshoot Cain and Abel Took a Level in Badass Only a Flesh Wound Manchild Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Captain Obvious Dark Action Girl Up to Eleven Defrosting Ice Queen Berserk Button 20 Minutes into the Future Race Against the Clock Sassy Black Woman Ironic Echo Butt-Monkey Leaning on the Fourth Wall Tranquil Fury Gratuitous English Narrator Agony of the Feet Manly Tears Left the Background Music On Fat Bastard Darkest Hour Arranged Marriage Double-Meaning Title Foregone Conclusion Based on a True Story Eyepatch of Power Jerk Jock Fainting Anti-Villain Deliberately Monochrome Corrupt Corporate Executive Cruel and Unusual Death Gory Discretion Shot Becoming the Mask The Faceless Index of Film Westerns What Happened to the Mouse? She's Got Legs Brother–Sister Incest Call-Forward A Minor Kidroduction Only in It for the Money German Films You Have Failed Me All Girls Want Bad Boys For Want of a Nail Red Right Hand More Dakka Beauty Is Never Tarnished Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Genre Throwback No-Sell folderlabel The Remake Psycho for Hire Deliberate Values Dissonance Celebrity Paradox Does Not Like Shoes Defiant to the End Broken Pedestal Honor Before Reason Driven to Suicide Stylistic Suck Dramatic Gun Cock Improbable Weapon User Smug Snake Dutch Angle Sanity Slippage The Smart Guy Rasputinian Death Blatant Lies Big Fancy House Reckless Gun Usage Evil Plan Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Married to the Job