Opinion ID: 1677203
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: proper test to determine whether article vi, section 14 applies to a monetary assessment

Text: Because Article VI, section 14 applies to proceedings involving the violation of a municipal ordinance when the monetary sanction serves punitive goals, we must provide guidance as to how to properly determine the character of the assessment itself. From the outset, we acknowledge that only the rare case will admit of simple resolution, and these two cases in particular illustrate well the candid observation proffered by one scholar that [a] criminal fine and a civil fine do not, by the very act of their imposition, distinguish themselves. [15] Indeed, although distinguishing between punitive and non-punitive measures may have been a comparatively simple task in 1796, it has since become an increasingly complex undertaking. As the rise of the modern administrative state has obscured the line separating criminal and civil sanctions, many sanctions have become admittedly difficult to characterize as being in one class or the other. For example, many civil sanctions today seem designed, at least in part, to further some goals of punishment, and strict-liability criminal offenses aimed at protecting the public welfare are often cloaked with trappings that are traditionally associated with civil law. Nevertheless, despite the rigor and asperity of the task involved, Article VI, section 14 still commands that such a distinction be made.