Wizard Barristers: On Consent Searches

In the United States, the Fourth Amendment puts a limitation on what the government can or cannot do when it comes searching a private individual. TL;DR – what cops can or can’t do to take your stuff. And it’s actually not that hard to get a good grasp of what governs when can a cop take some evidence from you in order to use it against you in a government proceeding (read: trial/prosecution/hearing). The rule of thumb is probable cause. TL;DR #2 – is there a reason to be suspicious of you?

In Wizard Barristers, Cecil basically recites this in front of the two officers who wanted to look into her bag after learning that she’s a Wud. I’m glad Umetsu didn’t use “Wug” because HAHAHA. Aside from that, it kind of occurs to me that anyone who can spit back the general rule for consent searches in a spot like that is probably pretty cool. From a law nerd point of view. And she did it with just a couple sentences.

I mean I can’t do it.

That said, all I know about Japan’s laws in terms of consent searches is that they’ve modeled their constitution with part to the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution, which includes the Fourth Amendment. (See Article 35.) Which is probably why Cecil spit back the same legal rule (at least, in the Crunchyroll subtitles) as the American version of the issue.

You guys have your guns and tanks. I have my law stuff. Can I get a Penumbra-of-Rights-chan mascot? How about Ford v. Dodge-chan? But I guess since Cecil is just an average anime character, we have yet a long ways to go. By combining a crim-pro procedural plot and a magic sub-class of humans we are maybe half way there. Maybe the Butterfly partners (Chouno & Chouno?) have special powers regarding to law. That’s one level of meta that Umetsu can overcome for sure. It might be dumb, but I’m ready.

Episode one? It’s great, I like it, both jarring and unpleasant yet surprisingly fulfilling at the same time. This is the Umetsu that I know. It also takes the crown for the most “IT’S NOT FOR KIDS” anime this season in terms of the “ADVFilms” era of anime barometry. [Of course the most family unfriendly anime this season is Nourin.] So much for Watanabe’s new show.

PS. The site is kind of useful?