This Is the Law

1971–1976· 30 min★ 7.3·

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 panelists to guess which law was being broken by the "Lawbreaker" character, who always got arrested at the end of the vignette. The vignettes were quite subtle, and more often than not, despite many guesses, the panelists 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 panelists would each guess what the judge decided, and why, and each panelist would conclude by lighting up a large "Yes" or "No" in front of his or her seat. After all four panelists 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.