ATTAINDER
At COMMON LAW, that extinction of CIVIL
RIGHTS and capacities that took place whenever a
person who had committed TREASON or a felony
received a sentence of death for the crime.
The effect of attainder upon a felon was, in
general terms, that all estate, real and personal,
was forfeited. In common law, attainder resulted
in three ways: by confession, by verdict, and by
process or outlawry. The first case was where the
prisoner pleaded guilty at the bar, or having fled,
confessed guilt and abjured the realm to save his or
her life. The second was where the prisoner
pleaded not guilty at the bar, and the jury brought
in a verdict against him or her. The third, when
the person accused made his or her escape and was
outlawed.
In England, by statute 33 & 34 Vict. c. 23,
attainder upon conviction, with consequent cor-
ruption of blood, FORFEITURE, or ESCHEAT,was
abolished. In the United States, the doctrine of
attainder is now scarcely known, although during
and shortly after the Revolution acts of attainder
were passed by several of the states. The passage of
such bills is expressly forbidden by the Constitu-
tion (Art. I, Sec. 9).
Bills of attainder are special acts of the legisla-
ture that inflict capital punishments upon persons
supposed to be guilty of high offenses, such as trea-
son and felony, without any conviction in the ordi-
nary course of judicial proceedings. If an act
inflicts a milder degree of punishment than death,
it is called a bill of pains and penalties, but both
are included in the prohibition in the Constitution
(Art. I, Sec. 9).
The term attainder is derived from attincta,
Latin for stained or blackened. When attainder
occurred, the condemned person was consid-
ered to bear a mark of infamy that corrupted his
or her blood. Attainder was eventually abolished
in England by statute.
In the United States, attainder is scarcely
known today, although several states enacted
acts of attainder during the Revolutionary War
period. A few states consider the disqualification
of a person impeached and convicted to hold
any government office to be a type of attainder.
Attainder is akin to the concept of civil death,
the forefeiture of certain rights and privileges upon conviction of a serious crime.
