Ex post facto


Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Wikipedia.
Related to Ex post facto: Ex post facto law

ex post facto

adj. Latin for "after the fact," which refers to laws adopted after an act is committed making it illegal although it was legal when done, or increases the penalty for a crime after it is committed. Such laws are specifically prohibited by the U. S. Constitution, Article I, Section 9. Therefore, if a state legislature or Congress enact new rules of proof or longer sentences, those new rules or sentences do not apply to crimes committed before the new law was adopted.

Copyright © 1981-2005 by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T. Hill. All Right reserved.

EX POST FACTO, contracts, crim. law. This is a technical expression, which signifies, that something has been done after another thing, in relation to the latter.
     2. An estate granted, may be made good or avoided by matter ex post facto, when an election is given to the party to accept or not to accept. 1 Co. 146.
     3. The Constitution of the United States, art. 1, sec. 10, forbids the states to pass any ex post facto law; which has been defined to be one which renders the act punishable in a manner in which it was not punishable when it was committed. 6 Cranch, 138. This definition extends to laws passed after the act, and affecting a person by way of punishment of that act, either in his person or estate. 3 Dall. 386; 1 Blackf. Ind. R. 193 2 Pet. U. S. Rep. 413 1 Kent, Com. 408; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.
     4. This prohibition in the constitution against passing ex post facto law's, applies exclusively to criminal or penal cases, and not to civil cases. Serg. Const. Law, 356. Vide 2 Pick. R. 172; 11 Pick. R. 28; 2 Root, R. 350; 5 Monr. 133; 9 Mass. R. 363; 3 N. H. Rep. 475; 7 John. R. 488; 6 Binn. R. 271; 1 J. J. Marsh, 563; 2 Pet. R. 681; and the article Retrospective.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.
Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
at 397 (noting that ex post facto laws are limited to penal statutes: "they extend to penal statutes and no further; they are restricted in legal estimation to the creation, and, perhaps, enhancement of crimes, pains and penalties").
It's an ex post facto fact: Supreme Court misapplies the ex post facto clause to criminal procedure
Because the DOJ did not invoke an ex post facto application of the Cybercrime Law, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra insisted he broke no law in filing the criminal charge and dared Ressa to sue him if she thought he violated her rights.
Is Maria Ressa liable for libel?
"Sentencing a defendant pursuant to a subsequently enacted statute that reduces the punishment for the defendant's crime does not violate the ex post facto clause," they concluded.
Appeals court denies challenge to juvenile's murder sentence from 2011 shooting
(20) Trosclair maintained that his case fit into the third category of prohibited application of ex post facto laws, and thus his new sentence of lifetime supervision violated both the United States and Louisiana Constitutions because the amended statute inflicted a greater and more burdensome post-conviction punishment upon him than the statute did at the time he was convicted.
Forfeiting sex offenders' constitutional rights due to the stigma of their crimes? State v. Trosclair
The Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution prohibits retroactive laws that alter the definition of or increase the penalty for a criminal offense.
Criminal law - Fourth Circuit holds retroactive application of federal sentencing guidelines amendments violates ex post facto clause
An ex post facto law is one that applies retroactively.
Verdict first, trial later
Firstly, those who fail to receive approval for over-ownership of shares from FSC beforehand can exceptionally get the ex post facto approval when their conditions conform to one of these five cases; repayment of actual goods after liquidation of private equity funds (PEF); debt swap under the Act on Restoration of Debtor and Liquidation; debt swap under the financial institution agreements to encourage corporate restructuring; acquirement by securities firms issuing equity-linked securities (ELS) with the intension of risk aversion; and/or acquirement by private sector social overhead capitals (SOC) or property-investing firms.
Korea revises Financial Industry act
But when all of the reasons for invasion proved fallacious, White House rhetoric veered onto the ex post facto yet primrose path of freedom and democracy.
The long game
In doing so, he seeks to explode a number of myths about it, including a number of ex post facto strategic rationales for the expedition.
The Dieppe Raid; the story of the disastrous 1942 expedition
The court found that failing to consider the prisoner for the program was a violation of the ex post facto clause because the prisoner had requested consideration before termination was announced.
Castellini v. Lappin
In an emergency case, the prime minister could mobilize SDF units first, but would have to get ex post facto approval immediately from the Diet.
Japanese editorial excerpts -2-
While at least one critic (Howard Halle, in Time Out New York) has noted that the oversize new prints could be construed as an ex post facto bid for fashionable monumentality, they could also be understood as a case of technology catching up with sensibility: Before digital processing, the pictures could not have been enlarged to this size without sacrificing resolution.
Joel Sternfeld: Luhring Augusting

Legal browser ?
Full browser ?