Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

EX OFFICIO OATH

446

EX POST FACTO LAW

EX POST FACTO. After the fact; by an act or fact occurring after some previous act or fact, and relating thereto; by subse quent matter; the opposite of ab initio. Thus, a deed mny be good ab initio, or, if invalid at its inception, may be confirmed by matter ex post facto. EX POST FACTO LAW. 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. By Const. U. S. art. 1, § 10, the states are forbidden to pass " any ex post facto law." In this connection the plnase has a much narrower meaning than its literal translation would justify, as will appear from the ex tracts given below. The phrase "ex post facto, n in the constitution, extends to criminal and not to civil cases. And nnder this head is included: (1) Every law that makes an action, done before the passing of the law, and which was innocent when done, criminal, and punishes such action (2) Every law that ag gravates a crime, or makes it greater than it was when committed. (3) Every law that changes the punishment, and inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed to the crime when commit ted. (4) Every law that alters the legal rules of evidence, and receives less or different testimony than the law required at the time of the commis sion of the offense, in order to convict the offend er. All these, and similar laws, are prohibited by the constitution. But a law may be ex post facto, and still not amenable to this constitutional inhibition; that is, provided it mollifies, instead of aggravating, the rigor of the criminal law. 16 Ga. 102; 4 Wall. 277; 2 Wash. C C. 366; 8 N. H. 473; 3 Dall 390; 3 Story, Const. 212. An ex post facto law is one which renders an act punishable, in a manner in which it was not pun ishable when committed. Such a law may inflict penalties on the person, or pecuniary penalties which swell the public treasury. The legislature is therefore prohibited from passing a law by which a man's estate, or any part of it, shall be seized for a crime, which was notdeolared, by some previous law, to render him liable to such punish ment. 6 Crancb, 87, 138. The plain and obvious meaning of this prohibi tion is that the legislature shall not pass any iaw f after a fact done by any citizen, which shall have relation to that fact, so as to punish that which was innocent when done; or to add to the punish ment of that which was criminal; or to increase the malignity of a crime; or to retrench the rules of evidence, so as to make conviction more easy. This definition of an ex post facto law is sanctioned by long usage. 1 Blackf. 196. The term "ex post facto law," in the United States constitution, cannot be construed to include and to prohibit the enacting any law after a fact, nor even to prohibit the depriving a citizen of a Tested right to property. 8 Dall 386. " Ex post facto "and " retrospective " are not con vertible terms. The latter is a term of wider sig nification than the former and includes it. All ex post facto laws are necessarily retrospective, but not e converso. A curative or confirmatory stat*

prosecutor. Mozley & Whitley; 4 Steph. Comm. 872-878. EX OFFICIO OATH. An oath taken by offending priests; abolished by 18 Car. II. St. 1, c. 12. Ex pacto illicito non oritur actio. From an illegal contract an action does not arise. Broom, Max. 742. See 7 Clark & F. 729. EX PABTE. On one side only; by or for one party; done for, in behalf of, or on the application of, one party only. A judi cial proceeding, order, injunction, etc., is said to be ex parte when it is taken or granted at the instance and for the benefit of one party only, and without notice to, or contestation by, any person adversely in terested. "Exparte," in the heading of a reported case, signifies that the name following is that of the party upon whose application the case is heard. In its primary sense, ex parte* as applied to an application in a judicial proceeding, means that it is made by a person who is not a party to the pro ceeding, but who has an interest in the matter which entitles him to make the application. Thus, in a bankruptcy proceeding or an administration action, an application by A. B., a creditor, or the like, would be described as made "ex parte A. B.," i. e., on the part of A. B In its more usual sense, ex parte means that an application is made by one party to a proceeding in the absence of the other. Thus, an ex parte injunction is one granted without the opposite party having had notice of the application It would not be called "ex parte 11 if he had proper notice of it, and chose not to appear to oppose it. Sweet. EX PARTE MATERNA. On the moth er's side; of the maternal line. EX PARTE PATERNA. On the fath er's side; of the paternal line. The phrases "ex parte materna" and "ex parte paterna" denote the line or blood of the mother or father, and have no such restricted or limited sense as from the mother or father exclusively. 24 N. J. Law, 431. EX PARTE TALIS. A writ that lay for a bailiff or receiver, who, having audi tors appointed to take his accounts, cannot obtain of them reasonable allowance, but is cast into prison. Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 129. Ex paucis dictis intendere plurima possis. Litt. § 884. You can imply many things from few expressions. Ex pauois plurima coneipit ingenium. Litt. § 550. From a few words or hints the understanding conceives many things.

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