Opinion ID: 2401609
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ex post facto issue

Text: This statute is not an ex post facto law constitutionally prohibited. Such (a) law is ex post facto (after the deed or fact,) when (1) it makes a criminal offense of what was innocent when done; or (2) it aggravates a crime, making it greater than it was when committed; or (3) it inflicts a punishment more severe than was prescribed at the time the crime was perpetrated; or (4) it alters the rules of evidence to the injury of the accused; or (5) it, in effect if not in purpose, deprives him of some protection to which he has become entitled. The expression relates solely to crimes and their punishment, and has no application to civil matters. In re John M. Stanley, 133 Me. 91, 93, 174 A. 93, affirmed in Stanley v. Public Utilities Commission, 295 U.S. 76, 55 S.Ct. 628, 79 L.Ed. 1311. See also Hawker v. People of State of New York (1898) 170 U.S. 189, 196, 18 S.Ct. 573, 42 L.Ed. 1002; Meffert v. State Board of Medical Registration and Examination (1903) 66 Kan. 710, 72 P. 247, 251, 1 L.R. A.,N.S., 811 (bottom column 1); Page v. Watson (1938) 140 Fla. 536, 192 So. 205, [4] 210, 126 A.L.R. 249; McDonough v. Goodcell (1939) 13 Cal.2d 741, 91 P.2d 1035, [19, 20] 1041, 123 A.L.R. 1205; Frazier v. Goddard (D.C.Okl.1945) 63 F.Supp. 696, [4] 698; Konigsberg v. State Bar of California (1961) 366 U.S. 36, 81 S.Ct. 997, [9, 10] 1005, 6 L.Ed.2d 105; and Smith v. The State of California (9 CCA, 1964) 336 F.2d 530, [6] 534. The rationale is expressed in Hawker, supra, a leading case, 170 U.S. at page 200, 18 S.Ct. on page 577, where the majority of the court said: The thought which runs through these cases and others of similar import which might be cited is that such legislation is not to be regarded as a mere imposition of additional penalty, but as prescribing the qualifications for the duties to be discharged and the position to be filled, and naming what is deemed to be, and what is in fact, appropriate evidence of such qualifications.