Legal Realities of Time Travel: Lessons from Popular Culture

TY - JOUR

T1 - Legal Realities of Time Travel

T2 - Lessons from Popular Culture

AU - Sadowski, Mirosław M.

AU - Simmonds, Alexander

N1 - © The Author(s) 2026

PY - 2026/9/15

Y1 - 2026/9/15

N2 - What could the invention of time travel technology uncover about the law’s nature? Embracing the technological considerations, this paper prepares to anticipate legal issues surrounding time travel, using popular culture imaginaries as a source of potential challenges. Following the introduction, in which the authors explain the scope of the paper, the specific law and popular culture methodology, and the selection of the cultural texts, the first part of the paper specifically engages with the latter. Thus, following an overview of physical and philosophical considerations of time travel, the authors conduct the legal analysis of H. G. Wells’ ‘Time Machine’, movie series ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Back to the Future’, two series of Disney comic books focusing on time travel, and TV series ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ and ‘Timeless’. Next, the second part of the paper focuses on the legal theoretical issues surrounding time travel and the repercussions of altering the course of history, ranging from the question of the respect for human rights in distant past or a dystopian future to the elimination of certain individuals from history (the ‘killing Hitler’ debate). The third part of the article will consider equally the practical and procedural dimensions. If an individual were to travel back in time to a date preceding their birth, then what exactly would be their legal status? Further to this, should a time traveller commit a crime during their voyage into the past, under which set of laws would criminal liability arise? Ultimately, in the conclusion, the authors ponder the conceptualisation of rules for time travel activities.

AB - What could the invention of time travel technology uncover about the law’s nature? Embracing the technological considerations, this paper prepares to anticipate legal issues surrounding time travel, using popular culture imaginaries as a source of potential challenges. Following the introduction, in which the authors explain the scope of the paper, the specific law and popular culture methodology, and the selection of the cultural texts, the first part of the paper specifically engages with the latter. Thus, following an overview of physical and philosophical considerations of time travel, the authors conduct the legal analysis of H. G. Wells’ ‘Time Machine’, movie series ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Back to the Future’, two series of Disney comic books focusing on time travel, and TV series ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ and ‘Timeless’. Next, the second part of the paper focuses on the legal theoretical issues surrounding time travel and the repercussions of altering the course of history, ranging from the question of the respect for human rights in distant past or a dystopian future to the elimination of certain individuals from history (the ‘killing Hitler’ debate). The third part of the article will consider equally the practical and procedural dimensions. If an individual were to travel back in time to a date preceding their birth, then what exactly would be their legal status? Further to this, should a time traveller commit a crime during their voyage into the past, under which set of laws would criminal liability arise? Ultimately, in the conclusion, the authors ponder the conceptualisation of rules for time travel activities.

KW - Time travel

KW - Legal theory

KW - Human rights law

KW - International law

KW - Popular culture

KW - Comic books

KW - Movies

KW - TV series

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105050749551

U2 - 10.1007/s11196-026-10580-0

DO - 10.1007/s11196-026-10580-0

M3 - Article

SN - 0952-8059

JO - International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Semiotigue juridique

JF - International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Semiotigue juridique

ER -