ex post facto law

ex post facto law
/eks powst faektow 16/ A law passed after the occurrence of a fact or commission of an act, which retrospectively changes the legal consequences or relations of such fact or deed. A law is unconstitutionally "ex post facto" if it deprives the defendant of a defense to criminal liability that he had prior to enactment of the law.
State v. Rogers, Ohio Com.Pl., 346 N.E.2d 352, 361. Art. I, No. 9 (C1.3) and No. 10 of U.S.Const. prohibit both Congress and the states from passing any ex post facto law. Most state constitutions contain similar prohibitions against ex post facto laws. An "ex post facto law" is defined as a law which provides for the infliction of punishment upon a person for an act done which, when it was committed, was innocent; a law which aggravates a crime or makes it greater than when it was committed; a law that changes the punishment or inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed to the crime when it was committed; a law that changes the rules of evidence and receives less or different testimony than was required at the time of the commission of the offense in order to convict the offender; a law which, assuming to regulate civil rights and remedies only, in effect imposes a penalty or the deprivation of a right which, when done, was lawful; a law which deprives persons accused of crime of some lawful protection to which they have become entitled, such as the protection of a former conviction or acquittal, or of the proclamation of amnesty; every law which, in relation to the offense or its consequences, alters the situation of a person to his disadvantage. Wilensky v. Fields, Fla., 267 So.2d 1, 5

Black's law dictionary. . 1990.

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  • ex post facto law — n: a civil or criminal law with retroactive effect; esp: a law that retroactively alters a defendant s rights esp. by criminalizing and imposing punishment for an act that was not criminal or punishable at the time it was committed, by increasing …   Law dictionary

  • ex post facto law —       law that retroactively makes criminal conduct that was not criminal when performed, increases the punishment for crimes already committed, or changes the rules of procedure in force at the time an alleged crime was committed in a way… …   Universalium

  • Ex post facto law — An ex post facto law (from the Latin for after the fact ) or retroactive law, is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of acts committed or the legal status of facts and relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the… …   Wikipedia

  • ex post facto law — /eks powst faektow 16/ A law passed after the occurrence of a fact or commission of an act, which retrospectively changes the legal consequences or relations of such fact or deed. A law is unconstitutionally ex post facto if it deprives the… …   Black's law dictionary

  • Ex post facto law — Ex post facto Ex post fac to, or ||Ex postfacto Ex post fac to ([e^]ks p[=o]st f[a^]k t[ o]). [L., from what is done afterwards.] (Law) From or by an after act, or thing done afterward; in consequence of a subsequent act; retrospective. {Ex post… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • post facto — >> ex post facto. Webster s New World Law Dictionary. Susan Ellis Wild. 2000 …   Law dictionary

  • ex post facto law — ex post fac|to law [ˌeks pəust ˈfæktəu ˌlo: US poust ˈfæktou ˌlo:] n law [Date: 1700 1800; : Latin; Origin: from a thing done afterward ] a law that makes a particular action into a crime, and then punishes people who took that action before it… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • ex post facto law — A law which, in its operation, makes that criminal which was not so at the time of the act, or which increases the punishment, or, in short, which, in relation to the offense or its consequences, alters the situation of a party to his… …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • ex post facto law — noun (C) law a law that makes a particular action into a crime, and then punishes people who took that action before it had legally become a crime …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • ex post facto law — noun : a criminal or penal statute that imposes a punishment for an act not punishable when committed, or alters to the defendant s disadvantage the punishment prescribed at the time of the act, or takes away from the substantial protection… …   Useful english dictionary

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