Oh, now you're just being reasonable about a language that allows you to commit some proper code-atrocities:

  #include <stdio.h>
  #include <stdlib.h>

  int main(void)
  {
      char * str = (char*)malloc(1);
      free((void*)(str[10] = '\0'));
      str[1] = 'a';
      printf("%s", str);
      free((void*)str);
      return 0;
  }

This compiles and doesn't cause segfault. Believe me, I get what you are saying.

EDIT: Changed the allocated amount of space, not that it mattered to the compiler…