JOINT RESOLUTIONS. 899
ted, at other times they inflicted punishments
where the party was not by law liable to any pun-
ishments; and in other cases they inflicted greater
punishment than the law annexed to the offence ;
the ground for the exercise of such legislative
power was this, that the safety of the kingdom
depended upon the death or other punishment of
the offender, as if traitors when discovered could
be so formidable, or the government so insecure !
With very few exceptions the advocates of such
laws were stimulated by ambition or personal re-
sentment, and vindictive malice.
To prevent such and similar acts of violence and
injustice, 1 believe the Federal and State legisla-
tures were prohibited from passing any bill of at-
tainder, or ex post facto law.
Justice Iredell said, "the history of every
country in Europe will furnish flagrant instances
of tyranny exercised under the pretext of penal
dispensations. Rival factions, in their efforts to
crush each other, have superseded all the forms
and suppressed all the sentiments of justice while
attainders, or the principle of retaliation and pro-
scription, have marked all the vicissitudes of party
triumph.
The temptation to such abuses of power is un-
fortunately too alluring for human virtue, and
therefore the American Constitution has wisely
denied to the respective Legislatures, Federal as
well as State, the possession of the power itself,
they shall not pass any ex post facto law; or, in
other words they shall not inflict a punishment for
any act which was innocent at the time it was
committed, nor increase the degree of punish-
ments previously denounced for any specific of-
fence.
Justice Patterson said, ' 'the historic page abund-
antly evinces that the power of passing such laws
should be withheld from legislators as it is a dan-
gerous instrument in the hands of bold, unprinci-
pled, aspiring and party men, and has been too
often used to effect the most detestable purposes."
It has been also already seen that the recon-
struction Committee base their proposed act of
proscription upon the same grounds of safety to |
Report of the
Committee. |
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