Sometimes, a law or an action by the authorities is plainly unconstitutional. In the real world, that is solved by an appeal to a higher court to overturn an unconstitutional law or undo a wrongful application thereof.
Which does not happen in fiction in general and in films in particular. An old law that has a witch burned is applied independently of the obvious constitutional issues, ditto one that forbids dancing, and so on, and so forth.
Of course, the power of plot compels it.
See also Fiction Is Not Fair. Supertrope to Ultimate Authority Mayor.
Examples:
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Films — Live-Action
- Amistad, based on a true story, averts this with the case being appealed to the Supreme Court and the lawyers have to explain to Cinque why their case has to be argued again after they just won their freedom in court. For his part, Cinque is both outraged and bewildered at this alien legal concept.
- Doc Hollywood. Most judges don't judge their own cases.
- Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. SOMEONE had to be able to tell witch-burning is unconstitutional.
- Ernest Goes to Jail. There is actually mention of a higher court - but it's refused to hear Felix Nash's case, meaning that Ernest P. Worrell (who has been switched with Nash in jail) is going to the chair.
- Footloose: A local law bans dancing and rock music, despite being an extremely blatant violation of the First Amendment. It's based on a real place that really did have a law against dancing until 1980, so this might fall under Reality Is Unrealistic.
- Averted in Inherit the Wind, which was based (loosely) on the Scopes Monkey Trial. The appeal isn't shown in the film, but Cates (the Scopes-analogue) and his lawyer discuss making an appeal. In the case the film was based on, the verdict was overturned on a technicality (the fine assessed was higher than the law allowed).
- Pleasantville. The anti-color laws violate the First Amendment and the authorities refuse to give the hero a lawyer when he requests one on the grounds that they want things to remain pleasant.
Literature
- Works by John Grisham:
- In The Appeal the case being subjected to the title appeal is being reviewed by the Mississippi Supreme Court. After the court overturns the verdict, the litigants' lawyers say they'll appeal to the US District Court and the US Supreme Court, but that chances of anything helping them will be so slim as to be non-existent. In this case, there is a higher court, but it doesn't matter.
- Also averted, somewhat, in The Chamber (the book, not the movie), when the lawyer Adam ultimately comes up with 4 legal challenges to the death penalty and files them in Mississippi Supreme Court, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the US Supreme Court. In some cases, the Mississippi Supreme Court is the one that shoots down the challenges, and in others, it's the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The US Supreme Court consistently refuses to hear the case (they only take a small number of those filed).
- The School for Good Mothers: A judge ruled that Frida must have her parental rights terminated. Also Frida cannot have any contact with Harriet until she turns 18 and only if Harriet seeks Frida out. What's worse, it is an unappealable decision.
- The Three Musketeers: Discussed by Milady de Winter regarding her brand of a fleur-de-lis, which she claims was done by the Duke of Buckingham to frame her as a criminal under French law for refusing his sexual advances (she was actually branded in France for theft). If the brand had been a British mark, she could have appealed it to any court in the land, but there is no appeal under French law.
- Usually part of the maddening Crapsack Worlds Franz Kafka's characters are forced to deal with. Subverted in The Trial. The Law is described as having many strong, powerful guards by a series of doors, and past each guard is a stronger guard. Even if K. was able to get his case appealed to a higher court, he'd still be condemned guilty sooner or later.
- Double Subverted in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus Finch was going to appeal Tom's case, but Tom was shot to death, allegedly for trying to escape.
Live-Action TV
- Double Subverted in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: When Principal Snyder, out of sheer hatred for Buffy Summers, exploits her being framed for murder to expel her from high school and refuses to reinstate her after being cleared and remains adamant in his decision even as Giles threatens to take this as high as the California State Court. Which leads to Giles threatening to brutalize him. That does the trick.
- Doctor Who: "I am The Doctor. If you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, there isn't one. It stops with me."
- In Ed, a judge would decide the punishment of people before him with a Wheel-of-Fortune-style implement. He seemed to have been doing that for a while before the protagonist discussed it with him....
- Averted in Hatfields & McCoys after the McCoys start paying bounty hunters to kidnap Hatfields in West Virginia and bring them to Kentucky to stand trial. The legality of this is quickly challenged by West Virginia and the case is appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court. The Court seemingly rules in favor of the Hatfields but allows for Loophole Abuse where they are released and then immediately rearrested. After the trial that ended the feud, "Wall" Hatfield, a lawyer and a judge, plans to appeal his sentence but dies in prison before the appeal process gets anywhere.
- Also averted in JAG where both Harm & Mac argue before the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and Chegwidden once prepared to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court. Played straight in the episode "Tribunal" where the fictional Number 3 in Al-Qaeda is sentenced to death by a military commission.
- Thoroughly averted in the Law & Order franchise, where appeals to higher courts are a frequent part of the "Law" half of each show.
Video Games
- Played With in Liberal Crime Squad: while your Liberals can't ask for review to an higher court, Supreme Court's ruling are one of the ways to influence the issues.
Visual Novels
- In Ace Attorney, the trials you take part in are essentially hearings, supposedly to determine whether the defendant is guilty enough for a real trial—a "guilty" verdict just means they get taken off screen and tried for real. They're usually not treated as anything less than "Get Off Scott Free vs. Death Penalty". Since the Ace Attorney games are Japanese, and therefore based on the Japanese system rather than American, they apparently take a lot of actual influence from that system.
- There is ultimately a higher court, but the 3-day-max "hearings" usually end up being the final word: if the defendant is found guilty in the preliminary hearing, then their chances of being acquitted in the trial are essentially non-existent. The trial itself is usually for sentencing, rather than determination of guilt. If your lawyer can't prove you innocent in the hearing, then the evidence is obviously overwhelmingly against you.
- Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney takes this in a horrifying direction. Instead of regular criminal cases, Phoenix is involved with actual witch trials. Since witches are considered incredibly dangerous by the people of Labyrinthia, the penalty for being proven as one is to be lowered into a fiery pit to one's death. Even if the defendant wasn't killed upon receiving a Guilty verdict though, Labyrinthia's Medieval Stasis world likely wouldn't have a concept of appeals.
Web Comics
- After the collapse of his idiotic plan to enact genocide on Jean's sentient robots and being dragged to court, Freefall's Mr. Kornada instructs his robot assistant to press for a retrial in case he's found guilty, hoping to tie up the legal system into declaring him innocent. However, Blunt points out that, simply, Jean's not big enough for this strategy to work - there's only one judge aside from the authority elected to preside over his trial (the Mayor) - and said judge is foaming at the mouth at Mr. Kornada, automatically making the Mayor's court Mr. Kornada's best option.
Western Animation
- The Simpsons:
- The mayor at one point discovers that the city of Springfield actually has an old and unenforced law banning the sale of alcohol. Therein, anyone convicted of possessing alcohol in Springfield was to be punished "by catapult" as in being flung into the next county with one. Then it turns out that the 200-year-old law was repealed 199 years ago anyway. The old man who discovered the law suddenly realized there were more words on the parchment.
- Judge Snyder has unilaterally banned multiple things from Springfield (such as sugar) and his authority in the matter is never questioned, nor does anyone ever seem to think about just driving their car over to Shelbyville where the judge's far-reaching authority stops.
- Judge Snyder also has the legal authority to give an outsider the name, job title and mother of a citizen of Springfield, he has the power to expel said citizen from the city, and the power to have anyone who brings up the changes tortured.
