The Law of Time Travel
32 Pages Posted: 13 Jun 2017 Last revised: 14 Jun 2017
Date Written: May 14, 2017
Abstract
Even as time machines remain as fictional as ever, time-travel stories hold important lessons for legal reasoning. Starting from the ancient paradigms of prophecy, the article explores the key features of the genre. Considering four key time-travel themes — the self-fulfilling prophecy, predictive policing, evil time-travelers, and getting one shot to undo a fateful moment — the article discusses how time-travel movies express subtle (and not-so-subtle) critiques of cornerstone legal concepts such as mens rea, culpability, obedience to law and individual freedom, regulation of information asymmetries, and negligence. Through this analysis, the article aims to introduce time-travel movies into the broader field of law and film studies.
Keywords: Law, Time Travel, Literature, Film, Tort Law, Law and Film, Criminal Law, Law and Culture, Popular Culture, Prophecy, Law and Philosophy, Philosophy, Science Fiction, Legal Theory
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