The Measure of a Man (TNG episode)
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"The Measure of a Man" is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation first broadcast in 1988.
While the USS Enterprise-D is docked at a new Starbase for routine maintenance, Commander Bruce Maddox arrives to claim Data for disassembly. Maddox was also on the commission that decades earlier determined Data's eligibility to enter Starfleet Academy; Maddox's only dissenting vote was cast on the grounds that Data, an android, was not a sentient being.
Data elects to resign from Starfleet so he cannot be disassembled; however, JAG officer Philippa Louvois is persuaded to issue a preliminary ruling that Data is the property of Starfleet because he is a machine, in the same way that the Enterprise computer is. The JAG officer drafts Commander Riker to represent the prosecution, and Captain Picard serves as Data's defense counsel.
In the trial, Riker, who was ordered to do his best to prosecute Data or have the JAG Officer summarily rule against Data, presents an effective case of Data being property because he is merely a sophisticated machine. During recess, Picard is all but ready to concede until Guinan points out that a ruling against Data having rights is tantamount to sanctioning slavery. Emboldened, Picard presents his defence by arguing that Data fulfills most of Maddox's own criteria for the definition of sentience. Furthermore, he notes that creating a race of sentient being who are legally considered property, ergo slaves, is an profound affront to the ideals and principles of the United Federation of Planets. Impressed by these arguments, the JAG officer rules that Data has the right to self-determination; he is a machine, but he is growing beyond the sum of his parts.
After the trial, Riker hides away from the celebration in shame for the role he played in the trial. Data comes to tell him that he is well aware that Riker was forced to prosecute and is grateful that Riker made that sacrifice to give him a fighting chance to earn his freedom, which cheers up Riker considerably.
The seventh season Star Trek: Voyager episode "Author, Author" paralleled this story in regard to the Emergency Medical Hologram. Due to the lack of holographic rights in the United Federation of Planets as of 2377, the Doctor has his literary work published against his will. The Federation Arbitrator in this case ruled not on the Doctor's sentience, but on the Doctor's artistic work, which was protected under Federation law.
Trivia
This episode marks the first apperance of the rare "Interim Admiral's Uniform" seen only in Season Two of the Next Generation series. The uniform had been created to replace the unpopular first season Admiral uniforms and rank insignia and introduced a new system of rank pips within "rank boxes". The uniform would be replaced in the third season by the Admiral's uniform used for the rest of the Next Generation series and into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.