17

and by them only declared criminal, are oppressive, unjust and
incompatible with liberty; wherefore no ex post facto law
ought to be made." And the Constitution of the United
States declares that "no bill of attainder, or ex post facto
law, shall be passed." And "no Slate shall pass any bill of
attainder or ex post facto law." Thus it is beyond question
that neither Congress nor any State can give legal effect to
this proposition. The people of each State, seperately, and
the people of all the States unitedly, hare in the most solemn
form denied such power to both their Federal and State Gov-
ernments.

The reasons for this denial of such power were fully set
forth by the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United
States in 1798, in the case of Calder and wife versus Bull and
wife, 3 Dallas, 386.

Justice Chase said, "The obligation of a law in govern-
ments established on express compact, and on republican
principles, must be determined by the nature of the powers
on which it is founded." "The Legislature may enjoin, per-
mit, forbid and punish; they may declare new crimes, and
establish rules of conduct for all its citizens in future cases."
"The prohibition against their making any ex post facto
laws, was introduced for greater caution, and very probably
arose from their knowledge that the Parliament of Great
Britain claimed and exercised a power to pass such laws under
the denomination of bills of attainder, declaring acts to be
treason which, were not treason when committed; at otber
times they inflicted punishments where the party was not by
law liable to any punishment; and in other cases they in-
flicted greater punishment than the law annexed to the of-
fence. The ground for the exercise of such legislative power
was this, that the safety of the kingdom depended on the
death or other punishment of the offender; as if traitors when
discovered could be so formidable or the government so inse-
cure! With rery few exceptions the advocates of such laws
were stimulated by ambition, or personal resentment and vin-
dictive malice. To prevent such and similar acts of violence
and injustice, X believe, the Federal and State Legislaturas
were prohibited from passing any bill of attainder or ex post
facto law."

Justice Ireiell s*id, "The history of erery country in Bu-
rope will furnish flagrant instances of tyranny exercised un-
der the pretext of penal dispensations. Rival factions in
their efforts to crush each other hare superseded all the forms
and suppressed all the sentiments of justice, while attainders
on the principle of retaliation and proscription, have marked
all the vicissitudes of party triumph. The temptation to
such abuses of power is unfortunately too alluring for human
virtue, and therefore the fruners of the American Constitu-
tion hare wisely denied to the respective Legislatures, Fed"
9