[zorked]

The rule against self-incrimination is a very important part of Roman law - the government can't force you to do anything that would lead to your conviction.

That's why the Brazilian police has a hard drive that is known to have tons of incriminating evidence against a number of bankers but they can't do anything about it because, well, TrueCrypt.

It sounds ridiculous that the discovery of a body would be nullified because the evidence leading to it was nullified but this is important because it forces the prosecution to comply with the law. It helps avoid the violation of a fundamental right.

I don't necessarily find that Roman Law is superior to Common Law but all of the silliness about people being forced to type passwords could be avoided with this very reasonable provision. Common Law allows you to incriminate yourself by forcing you to prove your innocence by assuming guilt unless you can prove your innocence via decryption - let's hope we can all remember all of passwords!