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