This Is the Law

This Is the Law was a Canadian panel game show which aired on CBC Television from 1971 to 1976.

It presented short, humorous vignettes which ran with musical accompaniment rather than a soundtrack, and challenged panellists to guess which (obscure) law was being broken by the "Lawbreaker" character (portrayed by Paul Soles), who always got arrested at the end of the vignette (Robert Warner starred as the police officer). The vignettes were quite subtle, and more often than not, despite many guesses, the panellists were unable to come up with the law that was actually being broken.

The vignettes alternated with depictions of actual court cases, presented in a series of still cartoons, in storyboard format, with narration. The narrator would end by asking a question about how the judge eventually ruled. The four panellists would each guess what the judge decided, and why, and each panellist would conclude by lighting up a large "Yes" or "No" in front of his or her seat. After all four panellists had guessed, the answer would be revealed.

Paul Soles himself was the first show host for the initial 1971 summer episodes. Austin Willis became host from the regular 1971 fall season until the end of the series.

Cast

Panellists

• Julie Amato (1976)
• Bill Charlton (businessman by profession)
• Susan Gay (1971–1972)
• Susan Keller (1972–1975)
• Madeline Kronby (June–August 1971)
• Dini Petty (1971)
• Hart Pomerantz (lawyer and comedian by profession)
• Larry Solway (1971–1975)

Supporting vignette actors

• Paul Bradley
• Valri Bromfield
• Eric Clavering
• Trudy Desmond
• Robert McHeady
• Monica Parker

External links

• Queen's University Directory of CBC Television Series: This is the Law, accessed 14 August 2006, accessed 16 May 2016
• This is the Law at the Internet Movie Database