Questions tagged [law]
For questions related to the sets of rules set in place by organizations to govern the behaviour of the people.
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How will law be enforced if violence becomes impossible?
Yesterday, the alien wizard Handwavius flew by our planet. He saw how violent we were and decided to put a stop to it. He cast a spell on all humans to make us stop us being violent, then flew away ...
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How would a militaristic society that viewed the laws of war sacred develop? [closed]
While different nations have different laws of war, this society has laws of war similar to those followed by the United States Armed Forces; how would a militaristic society develop that saw its laws ...
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How would one go about getting away with illegal human experimentation? [closed]
My protagonist is subjected to involuntary experimentation because she has superpowers. I want it to be painful and traumatizing. Every time she is injured, she heals more resilient to harm, and she ...
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How to ethically utilize ability to transfer life from one human to another? [closed]
Lets say that a method has been discovered to transfer the 'life-force' from one individual to another, killing the donor but providing the recipient with healing and an extended life. The healthier ...
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Could a U.S. president change political parties? [closed]
This has intrigued me for a long time. Hypothetically, could a president-elect be able to switch political parties once they assume office? I'm aware of the ramifications and backlash they would get ...
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What international (or in this case, interstellar) laws would apply to the theft of a planet's moon? [closed]
I'm writing a story about a team of rebels and pirates who band together to steal a resource-rich moon from a solar system governed by a corrupt, oppressive regime.
Some world context:
The moon has ...
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Logical legal basis to outlaw the use of automobiles within cities? [duplicate]
So, I’m creating a post-apocalyptic world set 97 years after nuclear war, in the former state of California, AD 2059. The Californians, compared to the rests of the wastes, have done good for ...
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How to enforce an international ban on the use of human enhancement to one's advantage?
So, technology has become available to enhance human abilities, legislators and the public want to make sure people cannot use this to their advantage. If someone applies these enhancements later in ...
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Reason why dimensional travelling would be restricted
Alternate dimensions/timelines are an important part of one of my settings, a modern fantasy. Magic is well known, and it is possible for objects to be enchanted by a powerful magic user to connect ...
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Why zero tolerance on nudity in space?
Set in the immediate future, mankind visits Titan, moon of Saturn for the first time. A manned space station goes into orbit around the moon once every 4-5 hours. Actually there have been many people ...
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What is a good reason for every spaceship to carry a weapon on board?
In the near future humanity has started mining on Mars. International (and interplanetary) treaties governing the use of lethal weapons in space dictate that anyone possessing such a weapon must carry ...
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What laws would need to be created to support/protect Transhumanity?
References
First a definition, we'll be using the wikipedia version of the philosophical movement of transhumanism. This is the idea that humans will reach technologies that allow them to alter the ...
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How would a legal system deal with random groundhog day events? [closed]
I have seen similar questions about groundhog day but they were about either a single unique groundhog day or a permanent one.
In this case, each day may or may not repeat. There are no limits so ...
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Lying is illegal. How to make joking not an offence?
In the society I am building it is illegal for a government official to lie (this isn't a reaction to real world politics; I've been building this world for a while), while speaking/acting as ...
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How would a teenage UK girl get 3 months off school? [closed]
The girl is 14 and wants to participate in a video game tournament, specifically The International DotA 2 tournament. She has found place with a team and it's 2 months before TI. Assuming they qualify,...
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What are some reasons an employer could legitimately require your voting rights as part of your employment?
In accordance with Citizens United and with the acceptance that the real wealth creation of this nation is created by corporations, we hereby declare that the voting rights of corporations have been ...
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A road system with no traffic rules - what sort of vehicle is best?
In Britopia there were the Leftists who believed motorists should drive on the left and the Rightists who believed they should drive on the Right. The vote split exactly down the middle and it was ...
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(Mostly) Legal reason to seize an in-danger minor [closed]
I figure this question belongs here though it definitely has a legal counterpart to it. But since it's fiction and supernatural no less, I didn't think it would make sense to put it in a more legal-...
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What methods might a government employ to stay wealthy?
I currently have a world-spanning empire doing great deeds such as supporting the poor while creating massive pieces of machinery and swimming in art and lavish decoration. Surely they have a ...
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How can I prove that an individual was possessed during the act of committing a crime? [closed]
Devils are alive, and walk among us. This has been known to the human civilization ever since the gates to hell opened up, releasing the Devils upon our world. Although the gate was sealed and the ...
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How does a super-power salesman not get shut down for legal reasons?
I am in trouble: my boss, a multi-millionaire, has just come up with a scheme, but it has problems and he wants me to solve them.
The whole thing started when he saw this picture:
This gave him an ...
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What Could Cause A Kingdom To Keep Slavery Despite the Royal Family Refusing To?
Slavery in my story's world is common. Most don't see it as a good thing and slave-owners are rarely liked, but slaves are common enough nonetheless.
The royal family had personally stopped using ...
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Why would a country persecute people with autism?
A alternate-historical story is set in a third-world country some time in the 70s or 80s. The country operates similarly to any semi-developed country in central or south America. The countryside is ...
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How to discover hiding modified humans and their missions? [closed]
Consider an earthlike world where the following happened:
An UFO "crashed" somewhere on Earth some yrs ago.
It sunk into a swamp and was never found (since the swamp was huge and the UFO was small).
...
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How would Asiimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" be enforced effectively for robots built by private companies? [closed]
For a storytelling project, I'm trying to imagine a world in which fairly advanced, bipedal robots are being developed and produced by private companies.
As these robots would be capable of easily ...
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What kind of permits do I need to control the weather?
My weather control machine works! I dragged it out to international waters on a barge and was able to seed a moderately sized rain storm.* I'd like to start using my device in the United States for ...
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Trial: If an animal has human or near-human intellect, how might a western legal system determine its personhood?
Suppose humans are living in conjunction with several intelligent and communicative species of animals, dogs and cats for example. These animals might be legally considered people; being held ...
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Anti-Psychic Countermeasures [closed]
Let's say you are the President/Prime Minister/What-have-you of a major world power. Your staff have just informed you of a troubling development: psychic abilities are not only theoretically possible ...
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How can I legally reduce religion in my world?
Religious rights are protected, and freedom to religion is secured, how can we reduce religion in a country without breaking religious rights laws.
Here are some examples:
Ban religious schools (...
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Extreme lifespan vs. criminal justice "long sentences"
In many countries, stipulated term criminal sentences (i.e., not indeterminate or "life") can be extremely long, well over a hundred years. The US is one well-known example.
Assuming all other ...
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Consequences for a world introducing A/B laws testing? [closed]
Assume any law or policy was subjected to A/B testing after being enacted.
A/B testing: "is a randomized experiment with two variants".
Which consequences would it have on long term on the say ...
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Megapopulation Anarchist Government? [closed]
In a Dyson sphere world, there is enough space to support a population several orders of magnitude larger than our current population. With such a large population a single government cannot be ...
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What's a plausible-sounding technobabble explanation for Mars to be a forest world supplying Earth with timber?
In the story I want to tell, it's a thousand years in the future and Mars has been terraformed into a forest world (something like the forest-moon of Endor). It's settled in a few small towns and ...
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Crashland onto a new planet: Origin of the Legal System?
I've been researching the origins of my world's legal system. I'm trying to develop it over time in a somewhat logical and organic manner and I've come to realise that I don't yet have a clear idea of ...
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Individually applied multi-government
I have a world with 4 colossal cities. Like, more area than the earth big. They are inhabited by a population orders of magnitude greater than ours, consisting of many different species.
Due to the ...
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How could "power control" laws be enforced with the fewest violations of civil liberties? [closed]
The central premise of my story is that one day in the year 2017, an unknown entity starts imbuing humans with supernatural abilities. A quick rundown of the system:
Every human over the age of 13 ...
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Building a kafkaesque bureaucracy
Query
I intend to build a fictional civilization which operates solely via a sprawling Kafkaesque bureaucracy. My question is this: what conditions are necessary to incentivize the generation and ...
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Can a Military Officer Change their Combat Roles if the Situation Demands it [closed]
A well-organized insurgency group is attacking an outpost. The peacekeepers that are garrisoning the outpost are outnumbered and about to be overrun. The only person that can reinforce them in time is ...
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What is needed for people not to carry swords?
My setting is inspired by fantasy-Persia: think Shahnameh, or if you're unfamiliar with that, 1001 Nights. Middle-eastern setting, no gunpowder. An element I want in my story is that people (noblemen ...
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How would a society ban artificial intelligence without banning computers? [closed]
One way to avoid a 'robot apocalypse' would be to just outright ban artificial intelligence. But what if they wanted to keep some computers around, just for practical reasons? What kind of limitations ...
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Possible punishment for breaking birth control law [closed]
In near future earth become overpopulated. The most populated countries issued birth control law. However,the government is unable to provide everyone with contraceptive, especially in poor countries.
...
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Legal Hurdles of the Living Dead. [closed]
Here's the scenario, John's wife died 10 years ago. He has gotten remarried, sold the house, and makes a nice amount of cash with the bicycle business he had formally owned with his dead wife. ...
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Could a person extend their life by having a living blood supplied organ donor? [closed]
An old person and young blooded close match person or clone to get some youth back? With a constant flow of fresh blood the older person the donor is not just donating blood but adding virtually all ...
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Could UN or USA take over territory for safekeeping?
More then 3 decades ago dictator from country A attacked a ship from a country of dictator B. Dictator B invaded and annexed 1000 square kilometers of coastal strip to teach A a lesson, and kept the ...
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Legally speaking, would shooting fire out of your hands, count as a Firearm? [closed]
So let's say there's someone who can shoot fire out of their hands. It's understandable that some people would be nervous. My main question is would this man's literal firepower count as a weapon, and ...
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What weaknesses could someone exploit to manipulate this "Approval plus RCV" electoral system?
Question
I know that there must be ways that this system can be manipulated, but I'm having trouble figuring out what they are. I imagine that, since I created this system, I'm simply too close to it ...
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Can we have a happy and balanced society without currency or barter? [closed]
Currencies from gold to bitcoins have inherent issues, they require everything to be priced, they make money required for people to survive, they make people seek to earn money, and since money is ...
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How can I distinguish and balance sixteen branches of magic? [closed]
The protagonist can do magic.
But not just any magic, no siree. And to do it, they have to negotiate with hallucinated personifications of ideals. Or what they'd look like if they lived up to that ...
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What are plausible explanations for different regions having homogeneous styles within their borders in a relatively free society?
In my mind, I'm picturing different human controlled regions throughout the Milky Way (maybe entire planets, continents on different planets, cities, et cetera). So the differing human nations would ...
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What questions should I ask myself when designing a legal system for a fantasy world?
QUESTION
In the real world, the history of law in pre-industrial states is as sprawling and complex as can be imagined, and includes all kinds of unique and fascinating systems, from the Code of ...
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