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