Law in ''Star Trek'' refers to the legal procedures and processes as seen in the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

fictional universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes may ...

. 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. A discussion of this subject by Paul Joseph and Sharon Carton in the ''University of Toledo Law Review'' examines how this fictional set of laws deals with controversial issues in American law, such as the

right to life The right to life is the belief that a being has the right to live and, in particular, should not be killed by another entity. The concept of a right to life arises in debates on issues including capital punishment, with some people seeing it as ...

and

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

, as well as the law's response to

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

.Star Trek Visions of Law and Justice
Robert Chaires and Bradley Chilton. p73 The details and application of these laws, and the ways in which these reflect real-world legal systems, are further examined in the ''Adventures in Law and Justice: Exploring big legal questions in everyday life'' by Bryan Horrigan and ''Star Trek Visions of Law and Justice'' edited by Robert Chaires and Bradley Chilton. The former discusses the possibility of applying a comparison between law and a part of popular culture to the teaching of national and international law.

United Federation of Planets

In ''Star Trek'', the Federation is depicted as a

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

n interplanetary federal republic stressing the importance of sentient rights, respect for life, and non-aggression. A legislative, judiciary, and executive branch are present. The

Prime Directive In the fictional universe of '' Star Trek'', the Prime Directive (also known as "Starfleet General Order 1", "General Order 1", and the "non-interference directive") is a guiding principle of Starfleet that prohibits its members from interferin ...

, a controversial guiding principle of the Federation, states that there should be no interference with the development of any pre-warp alien civilization; the only known higher law in the Federation (according to canon) is the highly classified ' Omega Directive', which directs captains to seek out and destroy the extremely dangerous 'omega particles' and effectively 'rescinds' the Prime Directive in cases where the 'Omega Directive' applies.

United Federation of Planets

References

Further reading