Law in Star Trek
Law in Star Trek refers to the legal procedures and processes as seen in the Star Trek fictional universe. In several TV episodes and films since its inception in the 1960s, Star Trek has used fictional legal constraints and consequences as a plot device both as a parable for contemporary society in the real world, and to explore the society and politics of the future.[1]
A discussion of this subject by Paul Joseph and Sharon Carton in the University of Toledo Law Review examines how this fictional set of laws deals with controversial issues in American law, such as the right to life and privacy, as well as the law's response to sexual orientation.[2] The details and application of these laws, and the ways in which these reflect real-world legal systems, are further examined in the Adventures in Law and Justice: Exploring big legal questions in everyday life by Bryan Horrigan and Star Trek Visions of Law and Justice edited by Robert Chaires and Bradley Chilton. The former discusses the possibility of applying a comparison between law and a part of popular culture to the teaching of national and international law.
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[edit] United Federation of Planets
In Star Trek, the Federation is depicted as a utopian federal republic stressing the importance of sentient rights, respect for life, and non-aggression. The government resembles a representative democracy. A legislative, judiciary, and executive branch are present. The Prime Directive, a controversial guiding principle of the Federation, states that there should be no interference with the development of any pre-warp alien civilization.
[edit] Jean Luc Picard's Legal Activity
Within the star Trek episodes, Captain Jean Luc Picard is possibly most obviously the one character who engages in legal representation. Initially he defends the record of humans against Q.
He later is involved in defending himself in what ends up being a witchunt by a Star Fleet investigator, defending himself against treason in the episode, "The Drumhead".
He also deals with human rights law (Machine rights law?), in terms of the law in regard to the rights of artificial lifeforms. The specifically deals with the Artifical life form character, Data. Data is the first artificial life form that is in Star Fleet, and law has not been modified to deal with the concept of whether a machine has the same "human rights" as a person.
He does this in the TNG episode "The Measure Of A Man". Picard also defends the entire human race's history in the first i
[edit] References
- ^ See, e.g., Michael Stokes Paulsen, CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK AND THE ENTERPRISE OF CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION: SOME MODEST PROPOSALS FROM THE TWENTY-THIRD CENTURY, 59 Alb. L. Rev. 671 (1995); Paul Joseph and Sharon Carton, THE LAW OF THE FEDERATION: IMAGES OF LAW, LAWYERS, AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM IN "STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION", 24 U. Tol. L. Rev. 43 (1992)
- ^ Star Trek Visions of Law and Justice Robert Chaires and Bradley Chilton. p73
[edit] Further reading
- Adventures in Law and Justice: exploring big legal questions in everyday life by Bryan Horrigan, Univ. New S. Wales Press 2003, ISBN 0868405728
- Star Trek Visions of Law and Justice by Chaires, Robert (EDT) & Chilton, Bradley (EDT), Texas A & M Univ Pr, ISBN 0966808029, Copyright 10/1/2002
- The Ethics of Star Trek by Judith Barad and Ed Robertson, Harper Perennial (November 27, 2001) ISBN 0060933267
