# Great (lesser known) Trials in Science Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-lesser-known-trials-in-science-fiction/296465 "2005-03-27T16:17:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-lesser-known-trials-in-science-fiction/296465/81 "2005-03-30T16:37:46Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > No. The question was not, is Data a legal entity that we refer to ficticiously as a “person”?, but instead was, is Data a human being that’s made out of something other than flesh? Corporate and other juridical persons are not actually people. > > –Cliffy No, the question was whether Data was a **person,** i.e., a sentient being. There was never any question of his being a **human** being. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-lesser-known-trials-in-science-fiction/296465/82 "2005-03-30T16:45:54Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > PS: (echoes of the Terry Schiavo case) How exactly do you get to act on the behalf of the Soong estate?? Just because you say you’re acting in their interest? Well, if Soong’s will could not be found, it would depend on finding some relative, near or distant, who could make an arguable claim to being Soong’s heir-at-law. In most American states, if you die intestate with no heir-at-law, your estate will (eventually) escheat to the state; but heir-at-law can be a pretty distant relationship. Since the Federation is like the USA in most cultural, political and legal respects (thank you, Mr. Roddenberry!), it’s probably the same rule there. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-lesser-known-trials-in-science-fiction/296465/83 "2005-03-30T18:06:50Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And Rimmer was once convicted (based on a memory scan) by a justice computer, for negligent homicide in causing the accident that wiped out the Red Dwarf’s crew. Kryten got him retried and acquitted on the grounds (and over Rimmer’s vociferous protests 😃 ) that he was too low-level a grunt to be held responsible for anything. “My client is guilty of nothing more that being Arnold Rimmer. That is his crime…that is also his punishment.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-lesser-known-trials-in-science-fiction/296465/84 "2005-03-30T23:28:59Z")
Oh, and one more Trek example. In the Star Trek series that doesn’t exist, there was one episode where Paris was accused of murder on some planet or another. The main evidence was the dead man’s last experiences, as lifted from his brain in some technobabble mumbo-jumbo way, and the punishment was that every hour, Paris had to re-live that death from the victim’s point of view. It turned out that the brain-scan data was faked (something which the natives had assumed was impossible) and that Paris was innocent of the murder, though he was having an affair with the stiff’s wife. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-lesser-known-trials-in-science-fiction/296465/85 "2005-03-31T00:47:02Z")
The climactic scene in A Civil Campaign is a trial, IIRC. Another great scene. And the letter Miles writes to Ekaterine about midway thru the book is _freaking briliant beyond words_. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-lesser-known-trials-in-science-fiction/296465/86 "2005-03-31T00:49:24Z")
\ That wasn’t a trial, it was a legislative session. 😃 \ And I agree about how great the letter was. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-lesser-known-trials-in-science-fiction/296465/87 "2005-03-31T00:51:41Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > What was there in that trial that was specifically American procedure?? It seemed relatively nicely alien to me. They made a point of having Data say that he had to run the trial by Andalosian law… (or whoever… and it was Data who was serving as the judge – the woman nominated him since he could be impartial…) and every so often he pointed out an Andalosian precedent that worked against Picard’s case. Sure, but the courtroom was set up like an US court (not even a British one) and they kept saying “Objection sustained” and “overruled.” One would think an alien legal system would do things differently. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-lesser-known-trials-in-science-fiction/296465.md?page=4)