Sunday, December 2, 2012

Can the Government Legislate to Punish a Specific Individual?


During the 16th and 17th centuries the British Parliament often employed enactments court bills pertained to inflict the death penalty on persons deemed guilty of seditious acts, such as attempting to overthrow the government. In addition to the death sentence, debilitating the usually carried with it a corruption of blood which meant that the attained parties property could not pass to his heirs. If the bill imposed punishment short of death, such as banishment, confiscation of goods or loss of the right to vote, it was called a bill of pains and penalties against persons deemed guilty of disloyal to the American cause.

Article 1, section 9, clause 3 of US Constitution forbids the Federal government from passing bills are attained. The same prohibition is imposed on the states by article 1 section 10, clause 1. US Supreme Court decided at an early time without argument that these two clauses covered bills of pains and penalties as well of bills of attained a proper. Although this conclusion is not compelled by the language of the Constitution, it becomes entirely persuasive when the purpose of the prohibition is considered. Both bills of attained and bills of pains and penalties of legislative acts that inflict punishment without judicial trial.

Regardless of whether the punishment decrees death or something less than death, such enactment slightly principle is deeply embedded in the constitutional structure. The Constitution separates the judicial power from the legislative power. Legislative bodies are supposed to act general rules, applicable to all persons or certain classes of people which grant rights to them or impose duties prohibitions or disabilities on them. It is a function of the judicial branch to decide on the structure procedures containing safeguards against error and abuse of power whether a specific person is entitled to a right was subject to a duty prohibition or disability established by the legislature. Bills are attained and bills of pains and penalties are thoroughly at odds with these principles. They inflict punitive sanctions in disregard of judicial methods of proof designed to ensure fairness in fact-finding. History bills are attained has also shown that the passages often induced by popular passion or motivated by unproven suspicions.

In the context of the bill of attained the clauses of the Constitution, the concept of punishment has not been restricted by the courts to the typical sanctions employed by the system of criminal justice such as capital punishment, imprisonment, punitive fines and confiscation of property. The bill of attained a clauses have been broadly construed to include deprivations of rights, civil or political, disqualification from office and legislative past participation in specific employment or professions. Essential to a finding of attained is a determination by the court that it was still it was the legislatures intent to punish rather than to regulate for a legitimate political purpose.

Your Judgment Debtor   Filing Bankruptcy and the Automatic Stay   Multiple Judgment Debtors   Automobile Appraisal Expert Witnesses For Litigation   Common Types of Bail Bonds   Should You Outsource Your Judgments?   



0 comments:

Post a Comment


Twitter Facebook Flickr RSS



Français Deutsch Italiano Português
Español 日本語 한국의 中国简体。