May the Laws Be with You This Star Wars Day

Originally published by Sabrina Davis.

2021 marks 10 years since Star Wars Day had its first organized celebration in Toronto on May 4, 2011, although sticklers might argue its actual 10th Anniversary will occur in 2023, as “In late 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm and has officially observed the holiday at Disneyland and Walt Disney World ever since.” (To the non-geeks reading this, May 4 was chosen for Star Wars Day as a “pun on the catchphrase ‘May the Force be with you’ as ‘May the Fourth be with you.’”)

Instead of a recitation and summary of the “Top 5 Star Wars Verdicts and Settlements,” this blog post focuses on the legal aspects of Star Wars in two ways: (1) the application of American law to the Star Wars galaxy and (2) an overview of laws within the Star Wars galaxy.

Application of American Law

• The Rebel Bunch: The Legal Status of Rebel Fighters in Rogue One

• Could the Mos Eisley Cantina Discriminate Against Serving Droids?

• The Force of Law Awakens: “Star Wars” and the Laws of War

• A “Star Wars” Constitution: The “Bill of Rights”: Find out which freedoms surveyed lawyers thought a “‘Star Wars Constitution’ would uphold.”

• A Review of Star Wars Law: A lawyer turned sports blogger answers 8 burning legal questions from the Star Wars galaxy, including whether Chewbacca is an employee.

Star Wars Galaxy Laws

Where to begin? According to an article published in Slaw, Canada’s online legal magazine, “Star Wars laws can be categorized into general Codes and regulations‎, Galactic Alliance and Galactic Republic laws and acts‎, Imperial laws and acts‎, New Republic laws and acts‎, and Sith Empire laws and acts‎. There are even obscure legal systems which reflect natural law principles such as Ugorian Divine Law.”

The full round-up of Star Wars laws can be found here, within Wookiepedia: The Star Wars Wiki.

Real Space Laws

If you are interested in learning more about the actual laws of space for planet Earth, check out the Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library’s digital exhibit on Space Law, available here.

Additional Resources

• The Star Wars Encyclopedia

• How Star Wars Illuminates Constitutional Law (and Authorship), a book review by Cass R. Sunstein of How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise, by Chris Taylor

• A physicist explains the science of hyperspace—and why Star Wars isn’t entirely fiction

• Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

• For Star Wars Day videos, news, activities, and blog, see: https://www.starwars.com/star-wars-day.

Curated by Texas Bar Today. Follow us on Twitter @texasbartoday.

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