Fabula

The Court (Judicial Tribunal)

Judicial Adjudication and Legal Determinations on Personhood and Property

Description

The Court acts as the formal judicial tribunal charged with adjudicating legal disputes and declaring the legal status of entities brought before it. Presided over by Judge Phillipa in this matter, it assembles counsel, witnesses, and expert testimony, evaluates competing legal and moral claims, and issues binding rulings — here overturning a property framing and declaring that Data, while a machine, is not property, thereby establishing a precedent for artificial personhood and reshaping legal treatment of synthetic life.

Related Events

Events mentioning this organization

24 events
S1E1
Q’s Courtroom Escalation: Trial’s Fairness and Human Resolve

Within a stark, oppressive courtroom styled after a brutal mid-21st century authoritarian regime, the Starfleet crew is thrust into a surreal trial orchestrated by the …

S1E1
Q’s Courtroom Tyranny: Tasha and Troi Frozen, Picard’s Defiant Refusal

In the imposing courtroom of Q's archaic, merciless justice system, Lieutenant Tasha Yar fiercely confronts the court’s cruelty, embodying human dignity and Starfleet ideals. Her …

S1E1
Picard’s Defiant Stand Amid Q’s Arbitrary Tribunal and Escalating Threats

Within a grim courtroom evocative of humanity’s darkest post-atomic era, Picard and his crew are degraded to accused criminals facing Q’s omnipotent cosmic trial. Despite …

S1E1
Picard Asserts Humanity’s Worth Amid Q’s Arbitrary Trial

In Q’s surreal courtroom, Captain Picard strategically employs a provisional guilty plea to momentarily ease the tension as soldiers threaten Troi and Data with imminent …

S1E1
Picard Demands a Fair Trial, Q Declares Farpoint the Test

In a tense, surreal courtroom conjured by Q, Captain Picard strategically pleads 'guilty, provisionally so,' buying crucial time and challenging the arbitrary nature of Q's …

S1E1
Trial Suspended; Q’s Foreboding Challenge

In the surreal courtroom conjured by Q, Captain Picard navigates a tense standoff where his people's lives hang on a knife's edge, held at gunpoint …

S2E9
Louvois's Ruling — Data Declared Starfleet Property

In the Ready Room Picard delivers Admiral Louvois's cold legal finding: Data is Starfleet property and his resignation is invalid. Data meets the verdict with …

S2E9
The Switch: Riker Powers Data Down

In open court Riker stages a clinical, devastating demonstration to prove Data is property: after extracting technical testimony and bending a plasteel bar, he removes …

S2E9
Cross-Examining Sentience

In the courtroom's emotional crucible Picard calls Data and then Maddox as a hostile witness, producing Data's medals, a book of sonnets and a holocube …

S2E9
Judgment: Defining a Person

In the courtroom climax Picard reframes the hearing from technical taxonomy to moral precedent, humanizing Data with medals, sonnets and intimate testimony and forcing Commander …

S2E9
The Quiet Grace of Recognition

Immediately after Judge Phillipa's ruling, the courtroom's jubilation subsides into a quiet, intimate coda. Data approaches Commander Maddox and, with calm generosity, offers him permission …

S3E14
Ultimatum on the Holodeck: Picard Prioritizes Evidence Over Loyalty

On the bridge Picard coldly converts the Holodeck into the courtroom: he orders Geordi, Data and Ensign Crusher to build exhaustive recreations of the research …

S3E14
Holographic Intimacy: Manua Consoles Apgar

Krag activates a frozen holodeck replay that drops the courtroom into a private, domestic moment: Manua fusses over a beaten-down Apgar, touching his hand and …

S1E9
Triumph — and the Ceiling Falls

Josh and C.J. erupt in euphoric victory when the White House secures Peyton Cabot Harrison III as the nominee. Their celebratory charge — chest bumps, …

S1E9
A Justice's Bitter Reckoning

In Crouch's office the retiring Justice confronts President Bartlet with bitter, personal candor. What opens as genteel banter hardens into accusation: Mendoza was put on …

S1E14
Gavel Falls — Stay Denied; Execution Scheduled

In the hushed Supreme Court chamber a Justice reads the opinion: the stay is denied, certiorari refused, and the petitioner is formally scheduled for execution …

S1E14
An Unexpected White House Line: Sam Seaborn

Three public defenders, frantic and running out of legal options after the Court's denial, scour the hallway for anyone who can reach the President. Jerry's …

S1E14
Bobby Pries Out Toby's Whereabouts

In a terse, urgent exchange in the courthouse, public defender Bobby Zane bulldozes Sam Seaborn's procedural hesitations and, by relentless questioning and moral moral certitude, …

S1E14
Midnight Confession in the Oval

On a snow‑lit night just before midnight, President Bartlet stands at the Oval Office window with a rosary, tormented by the imminent federal execution after …

S1E16
Ceremony of the Flag, Quiet Walkout

In an Orange County hotel conference room, speakers deliver a stirring, patriotic case for a flag‑protection amendment while President Bartlet and supporters applaud. The public …

S1E16
Trading Access for Optics

Outside in the courtyard the senior communications team converts a crisis into a tactical compromise: Josh reports donor Ted Marcus will cancel the fundraiser unless …

S3E3
Babish Corners Rollins: Leaks, Waivers, and Impaneled Subpoenas

In the courthouse lobby, Oliver Babish ambushes Special Prosecutor Clem Rollins, insisting on the White House's good-faith cooperation while slamming leaks to the Wall Street …

S3E10
Toby's Sardonic Procrastination Dodge

In C.J.'s office late at night, amid White House turmoil, Toby deflects her impatience over his delays with a wry anecdote about McDeere's dismal 1-for-23 …

S4E3
Reluctant Rallies and a Tuition Pitch

In the bullpen Josh dodges the ceremonial campaign ritual — impatient, sleep-deprived and desperate to skip the motorcade stop — while Donna gently enforces the …