10 Weirdest Laws In The Star Trek Universe

10. General Order 24

This is the order to destroy all life on an entire planet. It has been issued twice, once by Captain Garth and once by Captain Kirk.

Though the law wasn't enacted on either occasion, as Garth's crew mutinied and Kirk stood down, one has to marvel at the situation that led to its creation in the first place. The intentional sterilisation of a world is antithetical to Starfleet's motto of 'seeking out new life and new civilisations'. The closest that an officer has come to actually enact this law occurred in 2376.

Captain Benjamin Sisko hunted the traitor Michael Eddington through the badlands. Eddington poisoned the atmosphere of a Cardassian colony, forcing them to evacuate. In retaliation and in a bid to encourage Eddington to surrender himself, Sisko ordered the release of two trilithium devices into the upper atmosphere of a Maquis colony.

While no one actually died as a result of this, the world became a barren wasteland for years following. Eddington, horrified at how far Sisko was willing to go, gave in. To date, no sanctioned enacting of this law has taken place.