Legal Commentary

At Concurring Opinions, Prof. Wenger wonders about the role of law in (stopping) the end of the universe.  His analysis assumes that the world will end thanks to some sort of wormhole-rift-black hole-AP physics type event, rather than the far more likely scenario:  a zombie take-over.   

Is your zombie escape plan legal?  Surely you've developed one.  Genetic testing, bio-warfare, and the like, seem to make a zombie takeover of the earth inevitable.  If the news begins to break that zombie-ism is taking up residence nearby, it is best to be prepared.  Consulting the leading zombie survival guides, you can develop a plan to protect yourself, loved ones and family pets from any potential onslaught.  Perhaps you're partial to a leading approach like "island survival."

But along the way to your refuge, you will no doubt face numerous decisions raising thorny legal problems.  If you have a decent chance of outlasting the spread of the zombie plague (something you can find out here), then it would be unwise not to be conscious of potential legal ramifications of shooting zombies in the head, breaking and entering stores to gather canned goods, and otherwise engaging in all manner of batteries, trespasses and conversions.   

Would whatever state emerged in the aftermath of the zombie plague simply extend amnesty to survivors?  The greater the scope of the plague, the more likely that would be.  But what if zombie-ism emerged on a more limited scale (for example, just among your laptop-using law students).  If you were in a small pocket of quarantined area within a viable state, would you be so easily forgiven your trespasses during the fight to survive the zombie scourge?

I'm not a criminal lawyer, so I can't speculate about whether an attack on a zombie would represent a crime against a person.  On the tort side, self-defense would likely be available, at least as against any zombies of the flesh-eating variety.  But my real concern would be the potential trespass liability for invasions of land and as against the chattels of another.  Would the landowner (or heirs, if s/he had fallen victim to the zombies) of the island on which I seek refuge be able to recover from me?  I could no doubt assert a privilege of private necessity, but would I not still have to compensate the landowner for any damage that I did?