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Comment by chimeracoder | Hacker News Reader

> Everyone is guilty of something is pretty much how China works, they even have contradicting laws on the book to ensure this.

The US isn't too different from this, especially if you include all the contractual agreements that a typical person enters into.

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Contracts are covered under civil law, not criminal.

I'm aware, but my point is that if your landlord or employer wants to make your life difficult, there's a good chance you're violating those contracts in some minor-but-enforceable way already.

No no no. They can put things in the contract, but just because you sign it doesn't mean the clauses are enforceable, many of them are illegal/unenforceable. If it comes to judge (which it almost never does for consumers), you have lots of rights and the judge is fair/unbiased and not in the pocket of your adversary. Disclaimer IANAL.

In China, if someone wants you out of your apartment, they can have you out almost overnight. Can you imagine how stressful a midnight move is?

I don't think the US has outright contradicting laws, but they do have enough that you are probably guilty of something, and they do have the catchall "disorderly conduct" so the police can arrest whomever they wish.

I thought the popular charge in this regard is "resisting arrest."

See, I think they have to fabricate a charge to arrest you for before you can be resisting it. Otherwise they just add that one to the pile to encourage you to plea to lesser charges.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resisting_arrest

The courts in the United States of America regard resisting arrest as a separate charge or crime in addition to other alleged crimes committed by the arrested person. It is possible (and has happened) to be charged, tried and convicted on this charge alone.

Wow that would fit right in the middle of Catch-22.

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