A Review of Burglary Through "Seinfeld"

Imagine a law student or lawyer watching an episode of "Seinfeld" with a friend. As Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer navigate their hilarious misadventures, our legal aficionado can't resist the urge to turn into a legal commentator. Whether it's Jerry's landlord-tenant disputes, George's questionable business ethics, or Elaine's workplace shenanigans, our legal eagle chimes in with, "Well, technically, that's not how contract law works," or "In real life, they'd be in hot water for that!"

Of course, trying to understand the law from shows like "Seinfeld" can be problematic because these programs often simplify, exaggerate, or inaccurately portray legal scenarios for entertainment purposes.

Take Season 5 Episode 11, titled "The Conversation." In this episode, one of the subplots is that Jerry becomes curious as to why his girlfriend needs fungus cream after finding a tube of the medicine in her bathroom cabinet. Here's the exchange between Jerry and Elaine describing the discovery:

Elaine: "What were you doing opening her medicine cabinet?"

Jerry: "I didn’t open it. It was open. I just nudged it a little."

Elaine: "You were snooping."

Jerry: "I was not snooping. I did not break the seal. There was no breaking and entering. I wouldn’t do that." Kramer: "I would."

This short conversation provides a good review for burglary. At common law, burglary was defined as the breaking and entering of the dwelling house of another at nighttime with the intent to commit a felony therein.

Jerry suggests that there was no burglary because there was no "breaking and entering."

Let's breakdown his assertion by examining the requirements of common law burglary:

"Dwelling house of another": At common law, burglary requires an entry into the dwelling house of another, which means a building that is regularly uses for sleeping. This requirement can also include a part of the structure that is somehow separately secured from the rest of the dwelling. This means that if someone breaks open a closed closet or a wall safe within a dwelling, this would meet the requirement of burglary because these are considered separately secured subportions of the house.

In Jerry's case, the medicine cabinet in his girlfriend's apartment could be the basis of a potential burglary crime.

"Breaking": This requirement refers to using some form of force or entry that involves overcoming a barrier, such as where person breaks window, forces a door open, or even opens a closed by unlocked door.

In Jerry's case, he "nudged" the medicine cabinet "a little" to open it. Therefore, there was a breaking.

"Entering": This requirement is met whenever any part of the defendant's person or an object that the defendant is grasping makes it inside the structure, even momentarily.

In Jerry's case, he grabbed the fungal cream from the cabinet, so there was an entry.

"At nighttime": It appears that Jerry and his girlfriend returned to her apartment after a date, so it's likely the nighttime requirement was established.

"Intent to commit a felony therein:" This is where the burglary claim fails. One of the key elements of burglary is the intent to commit a felony inside the structure or dwelling.

In Jerry's case, it's unlikely that he had such an intent, as he was likely just curious about the contents of the medicine cabinet.

Therefore, while Jerry accurately concludes there was no "burglary," his rationale is not accurate. There was, in fact a "breaking and entering." However, there was no intent to commit a felony therein/