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.

Federation law

The law of the United Federation of Planets is outlined in several episodes of Star Trek and is based on several historic documents, such as the Magna Carta and the Constitution of the United States. It also incorporates aspects of fictional legal documents, such as the Fundamental Declarations of the Martian Colonies. The supreme law of the Federation is described as either a "Charter" or a "Constitution".

Rights afforded to citizens of the Federation include the Seventh Guarantee, against self-incrimination. Other rights include the right to face an accuser, the right to counsel, the right to cross-examination, and the right to examine any evidence brought before a court. These rights may be extended to non-citizens who happen to be under Federation jurisdiction.

The Federation affords authors of creative works, even if they are not recognized legal persons, a measure of copyright protection.

Starfleet

The highest standing orders in Starfleet are the Prime Directive, also known as General Order 1 (see Prime Directive), and the Omega Directive (as time travel has been included in the Star Trek universe, a Temporal Prime Directive will also become a fundamental law circa the 29th century, far after the main time frames of the series and films)

Starfleet Judge Advocate General Corps

File:StarTrekTrial.jpg

A 23rd century Starfleet Court Martial

Specific to the paramilitary nature of Starfleet, a judge advocate general corps is responsible for investigating legal issues affecting Starfleet personnel and conducting courts martial. Civilians may come under Starfleet's jurisdiction if their crimes concern fraud in gaining entry into Starfleet Academy. The relationship between Starfleet's JAG corps, Inspector General's office, and Internal Affairs has not been explained in canon.

Court martial procedure allows the accused to challenge any member of the court if the accused feels that they may harbor a prejudiced attitude towards their case. Additionally, the accused has the right to consent to any Starfleet member who is appointed to sit on the court or appointed as the prosecutor. The accused may also make a statement before questioning.

In an emergency, Starfleet allows a court martial to be convened with a minimum of three command-level (captain or above) officers presiding. Additionally, an understaffed JAG office may call upon senior starship officers to serve as ad hoc prosecution and defense counsel.

The loss of a starship automatically leads to a JAG court-martial. Such courts-martial were held following the loss of the USS Pegasus and the USS Stargazer. An officer found to be at fault for the loss of a starship may be sentenced to a reduction in rank.

Starfleet maintains penal facilities in New Zealand on Earth, planet Jaros II, and an unnamed starbase near station Deep Space Nine.

To date, confirmed JAG members include:

• Lieutenant Areel Shaw - prosecuted Captain James T. Kirk in his 2267 court-martial for alleged negligence in the death of Lieutenant Commander Ben Finney
• Captain Phillippa Louvois - prosecuted Captain Picard over the loss of the USS Stargazer and presided over a hearing which ruled that Lieutenant Commander Data is not Starfleet property.
• Rear Admiral Bennett - arranged for Richard Bashir's incarceration – and his son Julian Bashir's retention of a Starfleet commission – as punishment when the genetic enhancements done to Julian were revealed.
• Judge Aaron Satie - father of Rear Admiral (ret.) Norah Satie, noted civil liberties scholar whose decisions are required reading at Starfleet Academy; wrote the line "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied – chains us all, irrevocably.".

Shipboard discipline

All five Star Trek TV series have assumed the ability of a commanding officer to impose nonjudicial punishment. In the Enterprise episode "Divergence," Captain Archer relieves Lieutenant Reed of duty and confines him to the brig for withholding information about his orders from Section 31. In the TOS episode "The Trouble with Tribbles," Captain Kirk orders all officers involved in a bar fight to be confined to quarters.

On TNG, Captain Picard threatens an insubordinate Lt. Commander Data (in actuality possessed by Ira Graves) with disciplinary action in "The Schizoid Man." Additionally, Picard places a formal reprimand in Worf's personnel record in "Reunion" after Worf killed Duras. He also relieved Dr. Crusher of duty after she performed an autopsy on the late Dr. Reyga against the wishes of Reyga's family. Finally, Captain Jellico relieved Commander Riker of duty and further threatened to confine him to quarters, on charges of insubordination, in "Chain of Command."

In the DS9 episode "Inquisition," Sloan subjected Dr. Bashir to detention in a holding cell on suspicion of treason as a ruse to recruit him into Section 31. In the film Star Trek: Insurrection, Admiral Dougherty allows Captain Picard to continue to be held by the Son'a after he attempts to foil the Baku relocation plan. In the Voyager episode "Thirty Days," Tom Paris served a thirty day sentence in the brig and was demoted to Ensign for disobeying Captain Janeway's orders. Perhaps the most extreme case where nonjudicial punishment was imposed was when Lon Suder was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to confinement for life. This was due to the unique circumstances of Voyager's isolation in the Delta Quadrant.

In addition to disciplining Starfleet officers, ship captains have also been shown to impose nonjudicial punishment on civilians as well. For example, Captain Janeway sentenced Neelix to two weeks of scrubbing plasma manifolds as punishment for negotiating an illegal trade behind her back. Additionally, in the TNG episode "Coming of Age," Captain Picard ordered Commander Riker to give the teenager Jake Kurland a stern refresher in discipline after the youth nearly kills himself with a stolen shuttle. Finally, Captain Kirk ordered civilian trader Cyrano Jones to sweep station K-7 of all tribbles, estimated to take approximately 17.9 years, as punishment for bringing the furry creatures to the station.

Police powers

Related to the power of starship commanders to impose punishment, Starfleet has been shown to have police powers over officers and civilians alike in matters tangentially related to its operations. For example, after Captain Kirk intercepted the stolen space cruiser Aurora, he was ordered not to place those on board under arrest because one of them was the son of an ambassador, thus implying that notwithstanding orders he did have the power to do so. Additionally, Lt. Commander Data asks Commander Riker to arrest trader Kivas Fajo for kidnapping, theft, and murder, and to confiscate his collection. When Ensign Ro went undercover as a deserter to infiltrate the Maquis, her cover story was made more credible by the ruse of Starfleet officers seeking to arrest her. Finally, when a mole was believed to be funneling Starfleet intelligence information to the Orion Syndicate, a civilian gang, Starfleet was charged with investigating the leak. However, when Enterprise-D crew members caught the Romulan Tallera on Vulcan with the ancient Stone of Gol psionic weapon, she was transferred to Vulcan internal security instead of being held by Starfleet. It is unknown if the Federation maintains a policy analogous to the U.S. Posse Comitatus Act limiting military jurisdiction over civilian law enforcement.

Extradition and asylum

Extradition law has been seen in Star Trek on a number of occasions. In the TOS episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," it is explained that "Intergalactic Treaty clearly specifies that no being may be extradited without due process." The episode then speaks of a hearing at a Starbase to determine the status of the extradition. In the TNG episode The Outrageous Okona, Captain Picard was forced to decide competing claims for the extradition of the trader Thadiun Okona. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine visited the issue twice. A hearing was held on station DS9 when Ilon Tandro of Klaesron IV sought extradition of Jadzia Dax for the murder of his father. Another hearing was held when Worf was charged by the Klingon Empire for firing on a civilian transport while in command of the USS Defiant. Although Jadzia Dax's extradition was presided by a civilian Bajoran magistrate, because DS9 was technically a Bajoran facility, Worf's extradition was presided by a Starfleet admiral.

Asylum law is also frequent topic in Star Trek, especially as a means for a character to escape extradition. For example, the Voyager episode "Death Wish" unfolded over the course of an asylum hearing in which the Q Continuum sought to return Quinn to captivity inside a comet. Other instances where asylum was requested include the TNG episodes "Deja Q," "The Defector," and "Transfigurations," and the Voyager episode "Counterpoint."

A tenet of civil procedure that was apparently violated in the Voyager episode "Death Wish" was the traditional prohibition against ex parte communications between a litigant and a presiding officer.

Treaty law

Star Trek deals extensively with the concept of interstellar treaties as the basis for relations between spacefaring races. Treaties exist between the Federation and other major powers including the Klingons (see Khitomer Accords), Cardassians, Romulans, and the Dominion.

The idea of a "neutral zone" appears frequently in Star Trek, the first such reference being in the original series to the Romulan Neutral Zone. A Klingon Neutral Zone also is said to exist in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, with discussions of dismantling this zone being the main plot of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (see also Organian Peace Treaty). These neutral zones were perhaps modeled on the real world Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone and the Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone, both of which came into being before the term was first used in Star Trek. Similar to the Neutral Zone is the concept of a demilitarized zone, as between the Federation and the Cardassians. This is apparently modeled on the real world Korean Demilitarized Zone.

Death penalty

Capital punishment is present in Star Trek as many races encountered in the show practice execution. In the 23rd century, the "only death penalty left on the books" in the Federation was General Order 7 referring to the prohibition of contact with planet Talos IV. However, at least one Federation member planet imposed death sentences for other crimes, demonstrating that planetary law and Federation law may be separate, analogous to the legal concept of federalism. A supremacy clause has never been discussed, as in what would happen if a member planet's law contradicted Federation law, although it is mentioned that the Federation will not accept member planets that engage in such activities as slavery or use a caste system. As of the 24th century, the Federation has apparently abolished capital punishment, per a comment by Captain Picard to the Edo that "no longer" does the Federation execute its criminals.

Non-Federation legal systems

The legal systems of the Klingon Empire, Cardassian Union, and Romulan Empire are all featured in several Star Trek episodes. The Romulan system resembles Federation law in some respects - the accused has the right to make a statement before sentencing, and the right to counsel. In Cardassian law, a person's guilt is decided before the trial begins - the trial is used as a process for the court to show how the person's guilt was proved. Klingon law is founded, more than anything else, on the concept of honor.

Klingon

Klingon law may allow for trials in only limited instances as determined by political decision. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Kirk and McCoy were prosecuted under "your" (ie, the Federation's) "Interstellar Law," implying that special consideration was given in this case. The Klingon High Council may act as a court of final appeal, analogous to law lords, in deciding cases involving individuals and estates. Although the Klingon law of inheritance is patrilineal, the Chancellor of the High Council can grant "special dispensation" to a widow to become the head of the house of her late husband.

Personal honor

Much of the Klingon legal system revolves around personal honor. The ultimate punishment for a Klingon is discommendation, a process whereby a Klingon is symbolically stripped of their honor by the High Council, and their name can no longer be spoken. It is first revealed in the TNG episode "Sins of the Father," when Worf accepts such a fate to maintain unity within the Klingon Empire. Several references throughout the episode indicate that such a fate is considered worse than execution. Part of the ritual involves the High Council literally turning their backs on the disgraced individual. This ritual is repeated in the DS9 episode "The House of Quark," when D'Ghor is publicly shamed by the High Council for attempting to kill an unarmed Quark. However, a Klingon's honor and good name may be unilaterally restored by the Chancellor of the High Council.

Family honor

Unlike other legal systems, which hold only individuals responsible for their crimes, the Klingon legal system extends rewards and sanctions to family members, through the law of heredity (G'now juk Hol pajhard):

• A son will share in the honors or crimes of his father.
• If a family member commits treason, the family will be dishonored for seven generations.
• A Klingon who allows himself to be captured in battle dishonours himself and his sons for three generations.
• In a house with no single patriarch, but with two or more brothers, the elder brother speaks for the family.
• If a Klingon is injured and no longer able to function as a warrior, he must perform the Heg'bat (ritual suicide) with the assistance of his eldest son.

Vengeance

If a member of a house is killed dishonourably, another member of that house may claim the right of vengeance, allowing that house member to kill the murderer of their kin. This right supersedes even discommendation - in the TNG episode "Reunion," a discommendated Worf is allowed to challenge Duras, under the claim that Duras killed his mate, K'Ehleyr. Worf faces no legal sanctions after killing Duras - the Klingons consider the matter closed, even though Duras was one of the contenders to lead the Empire.

However, this does not extend to those killed honourably. In the DS9 episode "The House of Quark," D'Ghor tells Quark that an accidental death would pass disgrace onto the victim's family, but a death in personal combat "would be honorable... and an honorable death needs no vengeance."

The right of vengeance can also be extended to family members of the accused. However, the wronged person has the right to spare the accused's life, though such a decision is highly unorthodox. In the TNG episode "Redemption, Part II," Worf is given the life of Toral, son of Duras, as a result of Duras' crimes, even though Duras is long gone. Worf refuses to kill the adolescent, and forbids anyone else to do it. He states, "You gave his life to me... and I have spared it." The decision is openly questioned, but allowed to stand.

Corruption

Klingons often mention the importance of honor, and a common criticism Klingons make of Romulans is that they are a race "without honor." However, there are several incidents portrayed in Star Trek where not only individual Klingons, but the Klingon government itself is shown to act with questionable ethics. In the DS9 episode "The House of Quark," it was revealed that D'Ghor was engaged in dishonorable financial scheming in an attempt to acquire the property of his brother Kozak. In the DS9 episode "Rules of Engagement," Worf is accused of firing upon a civilian transport without cause, killing 441 Klingons. However, it is later revealed that the entire incident was a political ruse, intended to discredit Worf and the Federation. Another instance of governmental corruption was the High Council's scapegoating of Mogh for the treason of Ja'rod, a decision brought about by the political influence of Ja'rod's son Duras.

In the DS9 episode "Tacking into the Wind," Ezri Dax suggests that these problems are not limited to individuals, but have become systematic within the culture: "I see a society in deep denial about itself. We're talking about a warrior culture that prides itself on maintaining centuries-old traditions of honor and integrity... but in reality, it's willing to accept corruption at the highest level."

Cardassian

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A Cardassian Court of the 24th century

In the Cardassian legal system, trials are entirely a formality and only have a ceremonial function. Nevertheless, the accused is represented by counsel (called a "conservator") and is advised by a "nestor." The trial judge, called the "arkon," also prosecutes for the state. The verdict, which is always guilty, is determined long before the actual trial is held. The accused learns what he or she allegedly committed, and how their guilt was proven, at the trial. The conservator's and nestor's roles are not to zealously defend their client, but rather to persuade the accused to accept his guilt.

Other legal systems

Ferengi

The Ferengi culture and legal system is based entirely on commerce, and the 285 Rules of Acquisition comprise the sacred code on which all of Ferengi society is based. In addition, Ferengi law strictly forbids women from earning profit, leaving the homeworld, or even wearing clothes. Ferengi law also upholds the supremacy of contract, as in "a contract is a contract is a contract." A Ferengi who breaks a contract may be stripped of his license to conduct business within the Ferengi Alliance. However, per the 17th Rule of Acquisition, this applies only to contracts between Ferengis.

Q Continuum

The Q are noncorporeal omnipotent beings who live in an extradimensional plane of existence. Any Q has the power to travel immense distances, through time, or between parallel universes, at will. Therefore, because their actions have far-ranging consequences for the entire universe, the Q purportedly take self-discipline extremely seriously. For example, reckless endangerment of less advanced species can result in exile and the loss of a Q's powers. When a Q is deemed to be a danger to himself, such as when Quinn chose to commit suicide, he can be involuntarily confined indefinitely. Members of the Q who choose to leave the Continuum are forbidden to continue to use their powers; if they do, they may be summarily executed. Within the Continuum, sedition is also not tolerated.

The Q claimed the power to put humanity as a whole on trial to determine humans' fitness to exist as a spacefaring race. After seven years of observation, the Q passed a verdict of guilty, and sought to deny humanity not only spaceflight but outright existence. However, this verdict was apparently reversed thanks to the actions of Captain Picard.

Edo

The Edo, inhabitants of Rubicun III, live in a virtual utopia. Because anyone who violates the law--no matter how minor an offense--is punished by death, there is thus virtually no crime on the planet.

Argrathl

The Argrathl legal system has trials. Those sentenced to prison for serious crimes are actually implanted with the memories of being in prison for the specified amount of time, in a process that takes only mere hours.

Banea

The Banea legal system has trials. If prosecuted for murder, the criminal is forced to continuously relive the memories of victim at the point of death.

Ventax II

Ventax II has an adversarial legal system in which the validity of a contract can be subjected to arbitration.

Sheliak Corporate

The Sheliak Corporate are a highly legalistic society, and insist on a high level of legal precision because they regard the Federation as a lesser civilization. The Treaty of Armens is over 500,000 words long and was negotiated by 372 Federation legal experts. There is a third party arbitration clause in the treaty, and the petitioner has the right to choose who will arbitrate.

Sikarius

The Sikarian canon of laws prohibited the sharing of their advanced teleportation technology with outsiders. This policy may be viewed as an analogue of the Federation's Prime Directive.

Voth

The Voth are reptilian nomads that live in the Delta Quadrant, despite being descended from Earth's dinosaurs. They have a strict dogmatic world view that rejects the "Distant Origin" theory in favor of a creation myth which holds that they are indigenous to the Delta Quadrant. Being technologically superior, Voth doctrine also holds that species non-indigenous to the Delta Quadrant have no rights. The crime of "heresy against doctrine" is punishable by imprisonment or death, unless retracted. Even so, someone deemed a heretic may still be put by the Ministry of Elders into a career dead end.

Mari

The Mari are telepaths, but live virtually crime-free by purging themselves of violent thoughts. Even accidentally projecting violence can result in arrest and the punishment of an engramatic purge. Nevertheless, an underground trade in such thoughts exists.

Trill

The Trill exist as a joined species. Because there are only about 300 symbionts available for joining with humanoid hosts at any given time, the fact that up to half the Trill population is physiologically capable of joining is a closely guarded state secret to prevent commodification of the symbionts.

Reassociation, by which two joined Trill resume the romantic relations of their previous hosts, is strictly forbidden, because the purpose of symbionts joining with different hosts is to acquire new life experiences, not relive old ones. Those caught reassociating can be exiled from Trill, resulting in the death of the symbiont upon the death of the host.

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

External links

• Judge Advocate General at Memory Alpha