Ex post facto laws
| Federalism |
|---|
|
| •Key terms • Court cases •Major arguments • State responses to federal mandates • Federalism by the numbers • Index of articles about federalism |
Ex post facto laws refer to laws that retroactively punish conduct that was legal when originally performed. The term is derived from Latin, meaning "from a thing done afterward." Section 9 and Section 10 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution prohibit Congress and state governments, respectively, from passing ex post facto laws.[1]
Background
- See also: Beazell v. Ohio
A law is considered ex post facto when it punishes an action that was legal when it was performed. Article I of the U.S. Constitution, Sections 9 and 10, forbid Congress and state governments from passing any ex post facto law.
Section 9 prohibits Congress from passing ex facto legislation:
“No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.”
Section 10 prohibits states from passing ex facto legislation:
“No State shall ... pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto law”
Notable court cases
The court cases below have helped define the scope of ex post facto laws.
Calder v. Bull
Calder v. Bull is a 1798 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court drew a distinction between criminal and civil laws, finding that the prohibition on ex post facto laws was only applicable to criminal cases. The court held that a Connecticut law prohibiting appeals not made within 18 months of the original ruling was constitutional because it concerned a civil law, rather than a criminal statute.[2]
Beazell v. Ohio
Beazell v. Ohio is a 1925 U.S. Supreme Court case that helped defined the constitutional restrictions of ex post facto legislation. The court held that an Ohio law that mandated when two or more persons were jointly indicted for a felony each should be tried separately was constitutional. The court found the law to not be ex post facto as it applied only to persons who were indicted after the date the law passed, even for an offense committed before its passage. This case established an approach to ex post facto analysis referred to as the Beazell standard.[1][3]
See also
- Federalism
- Federalist Papers
- Anti-Federalist papers
- Beazell v. Ohio
- Bills of attainder
External links
Footnotes
| |||||
