A Loint of Paw

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"A Loint of Paw"
Author Isaac Asimov
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Science fiction
Published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Publication typeDigest magazine
Publication dateAugust, 1957

"A Loint of Paw" is a vignette by American writer Isaac Asimov, first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in August 1957. [1] It was reprinted in the 1968 collection Asimov's Mysteries and the 1986 collection The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov . The title of the story is a play on the words "a point of law", which alludes to fact that the punchline of the story is a play on the words of an old saw. [2] Asimov's author's note states that he considers "a play on words the noblest form of wit." [2]

In a novel, theatrical script, screenplay, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or character and gives a trenchant impression about that character, an idea, setting, and/or object. It is a short, descriptive passage, more about evoking meaning through imagery than about plot.

Isaac Asimov American science-fiction and non-fiction writer

Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. He was known for his works of science fiction and popular science. Asimov was a prolific writer who wrote or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. His books have been published in 9 of the 10 major categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification.

<i>The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction</i> digest magazine

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Fantasy House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas had approached Spivak in the mid-1940s about creating a fantasy companion to Spivak's existing mystery title, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The first issue was titled The Magazine of Fantasy, but the decision was quickly made to include science fiction as well as fantasy, and the title was changed correspondingly with the second issue. F&SF was quite different in presentation from the existing science fiction magazines of the day, most of which were in pulp format: it had no interior illustrations, no letter column, and text in a single column format, which in the opinion of science fiction historian Mike Ashley "set F&SF apart, giving it the air and authority of a superior magazine".

Contents

Plot summary

The plot involves a criminal named Stein who stole over $100,000 through fraud, then entered a time machine set for the day after the statute of limitations for his crime expired. The story tells how the case against Stein was prosecuted and defended, and that the judge's ruling was delivered in the form of a play on words. [2]

In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law, a criminal law, or it may cause no loss of money, property or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, for example by obtaining a passport, travel document, or driver's license, or mortgage fraud, where the perpetrator may attempt to qualify for a mortgage by way of false statements.

A statute of limitations is a law passed by a legislative body in a common law system to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated.

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References

  1. ↑ "Stories, Listed by Author" (Reference). The Locus Index to Science Fiction. Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
  2. 1 2 3 Asimov, Isaac (2005-04-29), A Loint of Paw., Weekly Reader Corporation, retrieved 2007-10-30

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