History Main / DiplomaticImpunity

* Invoked in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', when the Mouth of Sauron comes to bring Frodo's vest to Gandalf. He explicitly states that "I am an herald and ambassador and may not be assailed!" when he feels that the atmosphere is getting a bit hostile. Gandalf pointedly informs him that where such laws hold true it's customary to behave more politely, which does lead to him dialling back the insults a bit. Of course, in TheFilmOfTheBook, the Mouth does not assert this, and Aragorn promptly lops the guy's head off when he's said his piece.

I've got diplomatic immunity, so Hammer, you can't sue.\\

* ''LightNovel/ModernVillainessItsNotEasyBuildingACorporateEmpireBeforeTheCrash'' has a variant. Noble families in Japan are immune from prosecution, so Runa plans to use the Kekain Dukedom's status to avoid trouble if the Ministry of Finance or the tax bureau comes knocking. However, she still tries to keep her dealings as legal as possible (given the fact that it's high finance, breaking the law at several points is inevitable).

->''Ju-ju-ju-ju-just like the bad guy from Film/LethalWeapon2,\\

Can't touch me.''
-->--'''Peter''', ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''

* Arikos from ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'' used this in his BackStory to get out of masterminding a cult he'd been keeping up for years, including trying to cover up said cult with a ''mass suicide''. He eventually ended up on the show regardless, but that he's not dead already is a testament to the power wielded here.

** The game employs a more grounded example in its first case through the use of historical consular courts. While Jezaille Brett does get arrested and tried for murder, extraterritorial rights prescribed by Anglo-Japanese treaties required her to be tried by the Shanghai British Supreme Court rather than a Japanese one. And since key Japanese witnesses can't come to testify and the murder in question was [[spoiler:an assassination ordered by Britain's Lord Chief Justice]], Jezaille is all but guaranteed to have the charges against her dropped.

* The most absurd part of it all (perhaps) is that it's almost explicit that only supervillains can benefit from this in the comics. Examples: Doctor Doom (Marvel Comics) and Black Adam (DC Comics) can openly attack America and try to kill their enemies for some childish feud and cannot be touched because of "Diplomatic Immunity", not even taking any damage from their influence. and political position. But whether it was Wonder Woman (Princess and Ambassador of Themyscira) or Aquaman (King of Atlantis) who did something somewhat similar, or were framed (happened many times), they were instantly considered Enemies of the State and everyone would try to condemn them. for Crimes Against Humanity (Even if they had not committed any Crimes Against Humanity). Compare the time Wonder Woman [[Spoiler: killed Maxwell Lord]] and the entire Supreme Court desperately tried to get her guilty of murder and imprisoned for life, to the thousands of times some supervillain tried to take over the United States or " simply" commit global genocide and, at most, was reprimanded for that trope and then filed a lawsuit against the heroes who stopped him for having attacked him.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The most absurd part of it all (Maybe) in the comics , is that it's almost explicit that only supervillains can benefit from it. Examples: Doctor Doom (Marvel Comics) and Black Adam (DC Comics) can openly attack America and try to murder their enemies for some petty childish ribbing and they can't be touched because of "Diplomatic Immunity", not even taking any damage rm its influence and political position. If Wonder Woman (Ambassador of Themyscira) and Aquaman (King of Atlantis) did something similar, they would instantly be considered Enemies of the State and everyone would try to convict them of Crimes Against Humanity (Even if they hadn't committed Crimes Against Humanity). ) !

The most absurd part of it all (Maybe) is that it's almost explicit that only supervillains can benefit from it. Examples: Doctor Doom (Marvel Comics) and Black Adam (DC Comics) can openly attack America and try to murder their enemies for some petty childish ribbing and they can't be touched because of "Diplomatic Immunity", not even taking any damage rm its influence and political position. If Wonder Woman (Ambassador of Themyscira) and Aquaman (King of Atlantis) did something similar, they would instantly be considered Enemies of the State and everyone would try to convict them of Crimes Against Humanity (Even if they hadn't committed any Crimes Against Humanity). ) !

** Another SVU episode, "Parasites", had the DA's office managing to get immunity rescinded when the detectives found overwhelming evidence that he had murdered a woman.

->''"Diplomatic immunity!"''
-->-- '''Arjen Rudd''', declaring why the LAPD can't arrest him for drug trafficking, ''Film/LethalWeapon2''

* ''Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw'': The B-plot to episode three sees a Runa, Light Elf from the realm of Alfheim, being sued for fraud after using her shapeshifting powers to pose as Music/MeganTheeStallion. Runa's lawyer tries to get the case thrown out by arguing that as the daughter of an abassador to [[Film/AvengersEndgame New Asgard]] she has diplomatic immunity. The judge [[SubvertedTrope doesn't allow it]], pointing out that Runa's immunity only applies within the territory of New Asgard and the case is being tried in Los Angeles.

-->-- '''Arjen Rudd''', showing why the LAPD can't arrest him for human trafficking, ''Film/LethalWeapon2''

-->-- '''Roger Murtagh''', ''Film/LethalWeapon2''

-->-- '''Arjen Rudd''', moments before being shot in the head, ''Film/LethalWeapon2''

* ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'' employs a more grounded example in its first case through the use of historical consular courts. While Jezaille Brett does get arrested and tried for murder, extraterritorial rights prescribed by Anglo-Japanese treaties required her to be tried by the Shanghai British Supreme Court rather than a Japanese one. And since key Japanese witnesses can't come to testify and the murder in question was [[spoiler:an assassination ordered by Britain's Lord Chief Justice]], Jezaille is all but guaranteed to have the charges against her dropped.

* In the ''Literature/TommyAndTuppence'' story "The Ambassador's Boots", the eponymous ambassador is baffled as to why someone on an ocean liner would stage an elaborate SatchelSwitcheroo to temporarily get hold of a bag containing his boots. Tommy realises it's the other way round; they wanted the ''other'' bag to be in the ambassador's possession when they went through customs.

* [[AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho The Doctor]] gets to confer this while he's forced to perform his duties as President of Gallifrey in ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho230TimeInOffice Time In Office]]''. He confers diplomatic immunity on ''Tegan Jovanka'' by making her '''''EARTH AMBASSADOR TO GALLIFREY!''''' Granted, he did that mostly so that the Time Lords couldn't mind wipe her and deport her back to Heathrow, 1981, but he seemed to take something of a perverse satisfaction in watching Tegan put TheAssInAmbassador with the Time Lords not being able to do thing one about it.

* In the ''Literature/TommyAndTuppence'' story "The Ambassador's Boots", the eponymous ambassador is baffled as to why someone on an ocean liner would stage an elaborate BagSwitch to temporarily get hold of his boots. Tommy realises it's the other way round; they wanted the ''other'' bag to be in the ambassador's possession when they went through customs.

* ''Literature/ModernVillainessItsNotEasyBuildingACorporateEmpireBeforeTheCrash'' has a variant. Noble families in Japan are immune from prosecution, so Runa plans to use the Kekain Dukedom's status to avoid trouble if the Ministry of Finance or the tax bureau comes knocking. However, she still tries to keep her dealings as legal as possible (given the fact that it's high finance, breaking the law at several points is inevitable).

Diplomatic immunity only applies to recognized diplomats and specific portions of their families; agents not officially in the country ("Non official cover" or hidden spies) can't claim it. Committing major crimes under the cover of diplomatic immunity would cause a serious international incident. Take murder, for example. If a foreign country protects a diplomat accused of murder from all consequences, they would appear to approve of the murder, making it an assassination by that country, which is an act of war. While diplomatic immunity is abused, serious abuse is playing with fire so diplomatic immunity can be revoked by the issuing country's foreign affairs office [[Film/LethalWeapon2 or by shooting the diplomat in the head]]... whichever comes first. Although it is rare for a country to refuse to waive diplomatic immunity for a diplomat accused of murder or manslaughter, it does happen: Libya and the USA have both refused to waive immunity for diplomats accused of those respective crimes in the UK.[[note]] The former case led to the end of diplomatic relationships between the UK and Libya. The later is more to due to ValuesDissonance between the USA and UK, that is had Anne Sacoolas (the diplomat in question) been tried in the UK, she could face 14 years in prison, wheras in the USA her actions would result in community service. In fact the USA did offer to give Sacoolas that sentance, but the victim's family refused since they felt that being as the incident happened in Britain, it should be tried in a British court of law.[[/note]]

Diplomatic immunity only applies to recognized diplomats and specific portions of their families; agents not officially in the country ("Non official cover" or hidden spies) can't claim it. Committing major crimes under the cover of diplomatic immunity would cause a serious international incident. Take murder, for example. If a foreign country protects a diplomat accused of murder from all consequences, they would appear to approve of the murder, making it an assassination by that country, which is an act of war. While diplomatic immunity is abused, serious abuse is playing with fire so diplomatic immunity can be revoked by the issuing country's foreign affairs office [[Film/LethalWeapon2 or by shooting the diplomat in the head]]... whichever comes first. Although it is rare for a country to refuse to waive diplomatic immunity for a diplomat accused of murder or manslaughter, it does happen: Libya and the USA have both refused to waive immunity for diplomats accused of those respective crimes in the UK[[note]] The former case led to the end of diplomatic relationships between the UK and Libya. The later is more to due with ValuesDissonance between the USA and UK, that is had Anne Sacoolas (the diplomat in question) been tried in the UK, she could face 14 years in prison, wheras in the USA her actions would result in community service. In fact the USA did offer to give Sacoolas that sentance, but the victim's family refused since they felt that being as the incident happened in Britain, it should be tried in a British court of law.[[/note]]

* This actually turns up in a fair few ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' salt fics, with Lila often claiming her mother's diplomatic status when she's exposed for her various crimes in order to try and get out of punishment or get the authorities to back off. This rarely helps her, however; depending on the story, it usually comes in two flavors:
** The first one being Lila exaggerating her mother's position within the embassy, and finding out that her mother's immunity doesn't extent to her. One such example is''FanFic/BurningBridgesBuildingConfidence'', where Mrs. Rossi isn't high up enough for her whole family to have diplomatic immunity; only she does. However, Marinette points out that Lila clearly ''thinks'' that she's covered, and that her behavior only proves how rotten people can be when they think they won't have to face any consequences for their actions.
** In the second one she has immunity, but her mother revokes it. For example, in ''Fanfic/CrumblingDown'', after all her lies and crimes are exposed, including helping Hawk Moth, Mrs. Rossi allows Lila to be arrested and prosecuted, because Lila, the daughter of a foreign diplomat, has been helping a domestic terrorist of the host country, which could lead to an international incident between the two countries. When Lila protest at the apparent betrayal, Mrs. Rossi explains that what Lila did went beyond what diplomatic immunity usually covers, and if she didn't revoke it Lila would be screwed anyway because then the Italian government would simply fire Mrs. Rossi from her diplomatic position, since doing otherwise would be seen as the Italian government condoning such acts.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''. Count Vertigo has this as a member of the Vlatavan royal family, and brags to Kid Flash that he can't be sent to Belle Reve unless it could be proven he commited crimes against his own country. [[spoiler:Kid Flash fools him into making an EngineeredPublicConfession of conspiring to arrange the death of his niece Queen Perdita, enabling her revoke his immunity on the grounds of treason and attempted regicide.]]