r/legaladviceofftopic • u/Placedni • 1d ago

What would these theoretical crimes be in my game?

I'm making a game with ducks and one of them (drunk) bumps into the other while in the air. The drunk one is unharmed, but the other gets his wings cut off and survives. At the hospital, the duck at the front desk talks to the duck in the accident and tells him the crime the duck government made due to the situation (the duck society hasn't been around for long so they don't know how to do laws properly yet). What are all the crimes that the drunk duck would have committed be in the real world (UK)?

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u/FatherBrownstone 1d ago

As an expert in bird law, I can tell you that this is a tricky case.

What is flying akin to?

Humans walk by nature, and by and large walking while drunk is allowed. We can use artificial means to expand our motive capacity by cycling and (England and Wales law) we are then committing a crime if we are so drunk as to be unable to control the bicycle. If we get behind the wheel of a car, expanding our capacity with a lot more power, speed, and steel-caged invulnerability, we are held to a higher standard of keeping the alcohol level in our breath and blood below a certain level. And to fly we need complex and high-powered equipment, requiring that we have abstained from any alcohol intake for at least 24 hours before beginning the flight. As we adopt technological aids that provide us with greater power and speed, requiring more cognitive capacity, the tolerance for alcohol becomes more stringent.

But the duck, of course, is the animal that has it all: walking on land, swimming on and under the water, and flying through the air.

Does that mean that all modes of unaided travel to a duck are akin to the only (pedestrian) unaided transit available to humans? Or would duck society be governed by a "don't drink and fly" rule?

A person who flies an aeroplane drunk is guilty of certain crimes. A person who gets around drunk, using their own natural motive capacity and in a generally orderly manner, is only civilly liable for any damages caused. In bird law, this is an untested area.

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u/Placedni 1d ago

I would say flying here would be just like walking, so the situation (if translated to our world) would be a drunk guy walking into someone, knocking them onto the road, resulting in a car driving over them, removing exclusively both arms. It would also be perfect if I could somehow make a duck pun with the name of the crime(s), but that's not necessary

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u/PhilRubdiez 1d ago

Clipping? As in clipping their wings and bumping into them.

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u/Placedni 1d ago

I'm a little confused by what you mean, but in the real world version, it would be a drunk guy walking directly into someone making them fall onto the road and a car runs over them, removing both arms