law or resolution of Connecticut was not within the letter or intention of the prohibition, and was, therefore, lawful. (a) Afterwards, in Fletcher v. Peck, (b) it was observed that an ex post facto law was one which rendered an act punishable in a manner in which it was not punishable when it was committed. This definition is distinguished for its comprehensive brevity and precision, and it extends to laws passed after the act, and affecting a person by way of punishment of that act, either in his person or estate. Ex post facto laws relate to penal and criminal proceedings, which impose punishments or forfeitures, and not to civil proceedings, which affect private rights retrospectively.1 Retro(a) Strong v. The State, 1 Blackf. (Ind.) 193, s. p. (b) 6 Cranch, 138. 1 Ex post Facto Laws. This is one of the great constitutional questions which has been reopened and much discussed in cases arising out of the rebellion. An act of Congress provided that no one should be admitted as an attorney or counsellor to the bar of any United States court, or should be allowed to appear by virtue of any previous admission, unless he should have first taken an oath that he had not done certain acts of treason against the United States, had not held office under, or yielded voluntary support to, any authority hostile to them, and would support and bear true allegiance to the Constitution. It was held that this act, which was, of course, directed at those who had taken part in the rebellion, was both a bill of attainder and an ex post facto law, and therefore unconstitutional. Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. 333. See Ex parte Law, 35 Ga. 285. So, in Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277, a provision in a state constitution that no clergyman should be permitted to teach, preach, or solemnize marriage, unless he should first take an oath that he had not done certain specified acts, some of which at the time of doing them were not criminal, was held void for like reasons. See, however, the very able dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Miller, in which the Chief Justice and VOL. I. 35 Swayne and Davis, JJ., concurred, p. 382. But these were both cases of persons who had previously been admitted to their respective callings; and Mr. Pomeroy (Const. Law, § 532) thinks that as to future applicants the requirement of the test oath was constitutional, and cites Ex parte Magruder, Supreme. Ct. D. C., to that effect, § 534. Further cases on the subject are Ex parte Law, 35 Ga. 285; The Murphy & Glover Test Oath Cases, 41 Mo. 339. But in several cases it has been held that those who had taken part in the rebellion might be constitutionally deprived of the right to vote. Anderson v. Baker, 23 Md. 531; Ridley v. Sherbrook, 3 Coldw. 569; Blair v. Ridgely, 41 Mo. 63. And it is very clear that an act exempting all persons from prosecution for acts done by virtue of military authority of the United States or of the state during the late war, and made pleadable in bar of all actions then instituted or thereafter to be against any person for such acts, was constitutional. Drehman v. Stifle, 8 Wall. 595. A law imposing a less penalty than a former law which it repeals is not ex post facto as to offences committed before its passage. Commonwealth v. Wyman, 12 Cush. 237; State v. Arlin, 39 N. H. 179, 180. As to the general question, what is [545] spective laws and state laws, devesting vested rights, unless er post facto, or impairing the obligation of contracts, do not fall within the prohibition contained in the Constitution of the United States, however repugnant they may be to the principles of sound legislation. (c) (x) (c) Calder v. Bull, 3 Dallas, 386; Satterlee v. Matthewson, 2 Peters, 413; Watson v. Mercer, 8 id. 88. an ex post facto law, see Hartung v. People, 22 N. Y. 95; State v. Sullivan, 14 Rich. (S. C.) 281; State v. Paul, 5 R. I. 185; Lord v. Chadbourne, 42 Me. 429; Coffin v. Rich, 45 Me. 507; Rich v. Flanders, 39 N. H. 304; Gut v. The State, 9 Wall. 35. [A statute removing the bar of the statute of limitations where it has already run is ex post facto. Moore v. State, 43 N. J. L. 203, overruling s. c. 42 N. J. L. 208; Dinckerlocker v. Marsh, 75 Ind. 548. Held contra, as to an extension of the time allowed by the statute where it has not yet run. Com. v. Duffy, 96 Pa. St. (x) See The Energia, 66 Fed. Rep. 604; Sears v. Mahoney, id. 860; United States v. 64 Barrels of Spirits, 3 Cliff. 308; Kille v. Reading Iron Works, 134 Penn. St. 225; Mitchell v. Campbell, 19 Oregon, 198; McLane v. Bonn, 70 Iowa, 752; Demoville v. Davidson County, 87 Tenn. 214; Stetson v. Hall, 86 Maine, 110; Foster v. Police Commissioners, 102 Cal. 483; Re Wright, 3 Wyom. 478; People v. Spicer, 99 N. Y. 225; People v. Hayes (140 N. Y. 484), 37 Am. St. Rep. 572, and note; Pepole v. Maxwell, 83 Hun, 157; People v. Hawkins, 31 N. Y. S. 115. It is competent for Congress to impose taxes retrospectively. Stockdale v. Ins. Cos., 20 Wall. 323. A statute which, after annual settlements, authorized county auditors in Ohio to extend back, for four years, inquiries as to property returnable for taxation, was held constitutional. Sturges v. Carter, 114 U. S. 511. But penalties added for such previous years are within a constitutional 506; People v. Lord, 12 Hun, 282. A law requiring less evidence to convict than when the act was committed is er post facto. United States v. Hughes, 8 Ben. 29. In Kring v. Missouri, 107 U. S. 221, a person was convicted of murder in the second degree; and the conviction was set aside on his appeal, which operated as an acquittal of the crime of murder in the first degree. Held, that a statute chang ing the effect of such reversal was er post facto. Though the change may be one of procedure, it affects a substantial right of defendant, and this is the test. — B.] prohibition against retroactive laws. Gager v. Prout, 48 Ohio St. 89; Metz v. Hagerty (Ohio), 38 N. E. Rep. 11; Ryan v. State, 5 Neb. 276. So penalties which have accrued for non-payment of a tax, but which have been swept away by a repeal of the tax law, cannot be revived by new legislation. State v. Jersey City, 37 N. J. L. 39. An additional penalty may lawfully be prescribed for an act previously unlawful. Mackey v. Holmes, 52 Fed. Rep. 722. An act which imposes an increased punishment or penalty is ex post facto as to offences committed before its enactment. In re Medley, 134 U. S. 160; In re Savage, id. 176; see Fourth Nat. Bank v. Francklyn, 120 U. S. 747; Holden v. Minnesota, 137 U. S. 483; People v. MeNulty, 93 Cal. 427; Ex parte Hunt, 28 Tex. App. 361. An habitual criminal Act, made applicable to previous and subsequent offences, does not violate constitutional prohibitions against both ex post 3. The States cannot control the Exercise of Federal Power. The state legislatures cannot annul the judgments, nor determine the extent of the jurisdiction, of the courts of the Union. This was attempted by the legislature of Pennsylvania, and declared to be inoperative and void by the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of The United States v. Peters. (d) Such a power, as we have heretofore seen, necessarily resides in the supreme judicial tribunal * of the nation. It has also been * 410 adjudged that no state court has authority or jurisdiction. to enjoin a judgment of the Circuit Court of the United States, or to stay proceedings under it. This was attempted by a state court in Kentucky, and declared to be of no validity by the Supreme Court of the United States, in M' Kim v. Voorhies. (a) 1 (a) 7 Cranch, 279. (d) 5 Cranch, 115. 1 Riggs v. Johnson County, 6 Wall. 166, stated ante, 322, n. 1; The Mayor v. Lord, 9 Wall. 409; Supervisors v. Durant, ib. 415; Amy v. The Supervisors of Des Moines, 11 Wall. 136; ante, 401, n. 1. The last statement in the text of this page (410) has been twice referred to and denied to be law by the Supreme facto and retroactive laws. Blackburn v. State, 50 Ohio St. 428; Com'th v. Graves, 155 Mass. 163; Sturtevant v. Com'th, 158 Mass. 598. A State statute providing that every colored child previously born shall be the legitimate child of his colored father, if acknowledged by him, though retrospective in conferring a privilege, is not invalid as an ex post facto law or as impairing the obligation of contracts. Callahan v. Callahan, 36 S. C. 454. Vested rights under contracts cannot be impaired by new enactments. Koshkonong v. Burton, 104 U. S. 668; Stetson v. Hall, 86 Maine, 110. A constitutional amendment making changes in the trial court after the crime was committed is not an ex post facto law: Duncan v. Missouri, 152 U. S. 377; nor is one passed after a crime was committed, and before trial, enlarging the capacity of witnesses: Hopt v. Utah, 110 U. S. 574; nor is a law changing the trial court: State v. Welch, 65 Vt. 50; State v. Cooler, 30 S. C. 105; or the place of trial: Cook v. United States, 138 U. S. 157; or the parties necessary to suits upon contracts: Tompkins v. Forrestal, 54 Minn. 119; or one partially doing away with grand juries: State v. Hoyt, 4 Wash. St. 818; Lybarger v. State, 2 id. 552; see People v. Tisdale, 57 Cal. 104; or one affecting only the remedy. Drake v. Jordan, 73 Iowa, 707. Curative statutes are not objectionable on this ground when the defect is not in matter of substance. Smith v. Hard, 59 Vt. 13; Bartlett v. Wilson, id. 23; Johnson v. Wells County Com'rs, 107 Ind. 15; Coles v. Washington County, 35 Minn. 124; Thweatt v. Hopkinsville Bank, 81 Ky. 1. No state tribunal can interfere with seizures of property made by revenue officers, under the laws of the United States; nor interrupt, by process of replevin, injunction, or otherwise, the exercise of the authority of the federal officers; and any intervention of state authority for that purpose is unlawful. This was so declared by the Supreme Court in Slocum v. Mayberry. (b) Nor can a state court issue a mandamus to an officer of the United States. This decision was made in the case of M' Cluny v. Silliman, (c) and it arose in consequence of the Supreme Court in Ohio sustaining a jurisdiction over the register of the land office of the United States, in respect to his ministerial acts as register, and claiming a right to award a mandamus to that officer to compel him to issue a final certificate of purchase. The principle declared by the Supreme Court was, that the official conduct of an officer of the government of the United States can only be controlled by the power that created him. If the officer of the United States who seizes, or the court which awards the process to seize, has jurisdiction of the subject-matter, then the inquiry into the validity of the seizure belongs exclusively to the federal courts. But if there be no jurisdiction in the instance in which it is asserted, as if a marshal of the United (b) 2 Wheaton, 1. Any restraint by state authority on state officers in the execution of the process of their courts is altogether inoperative upon the officers of the United States in the execution of the mandates which issue to them. Baldwin, J., in McNutt v. Bland, 2 How. 17. (c) 6 Wheaton, 598. court has a right to interfere with that possession, unless it be some court which may have a direct supervisory control over the court whose process has first taken possession, or some superior jurisdiction in the premises." Miller, J., in Buck v. Colbath, supra. See Riggs v. Johnson County, 6 Wall. 166, 196; Taylor v. Carryl, 20 How. 583, 595. On this principle it was held that replevin did not lie in a state court against a marshal of the United States for property attached by him on mesne process from a United States court against a third person. Freeman v. Howe, supra (reversing s. c. 14 Gray, 566); Munson v. Harroun, 34 Ill. 422. See also Taylor . Carryl, supra. But on the other hand it has been decided, qualifying some expressions in Freeman v. Howe, that trespass does lie in a state court against a marshal for taking goods under a writ of attachment from a United States court, which did not belong to the defendant in the attachment suit. Buck v. Colbath, supra; Ward v. Henry, 19 Wis. 76; Booth v. Ableman, 18 Wis. 495. Trover will lie in the state courts against a postmaster for improperly detaining a newspaper, although such detention is under color of the laws of the United States, and the regulations of the postoffice department. Teall v. Felton, 12 How. 284; affirming s. c. 1 Comst. 537. States, under an execution in favor of the United States against A, should seize the person or property of B, (d) then the state courts have jurisdiction to protect the person and the property so illegally invaded; and it is to be observed that the jurisdiction of the state courts in Rhode Island was admitted by *the Supreme Court of the United States, in Slocum v. * 411 Mayberry, upon that very ground. In the case of The United States v. Barney, (a) the district judge of Maryland carried to a great extent the exemption from state control of officers or persons in the service of the United States, and employed in the transportation of the mail. He held that an innkeeper had no lien on the horses which he had fed, and which were employed in the transportation of the mail. The act of Congress of March, 1790, prohibited all wilful obstruction of the passage of the mail; and a claim for debt would not justify the stopping of the mail, or the means necessary to transport it, either upon principles of common law, or upon the statute. The judge stated, in this case, that even a stolen horse found in the mail stage could not be seized; nor could the driver, being in debt, or having committed an offence, be arrested, in such a way as to obstruct the passage of the mail. But in a subsequent case in the Circuit Court of Pennsylvania, (b) it was held that the act of Congress was not to be so construed as to endanger the public peace and safety. The carrier of the mail, driving through a populous city with dangerous rapidity, and contrary to a municipal ordinance, may be stopped, and the mail temporarily detained by an officer of the city. So, if the officer had a warrant against a felon in the stage, or if the driver should commit murder in the street, and then place himself on the mail stage box, he would not be protected from arrest, though a temporary stoppage of the mail might be the consequence.1 The public safety in one case is of more moment than the public inconvenience which it might produce in the other. (c) (d) Bruen v. Ogden, 6 Halst. 370; Dunn v. Vail, 7 Martin (La.), 416. (a) 3 Hall's Law Journal, 128. (b) United States v. Hart, 1 Peters, C. C. 390. (c) A toll-gate keeper, on a national road passing through a state, cannot stop the coach carrying the United States mail, for a refusal to pay toll. The remedy, if any, is by action against the contractor. Hopkins v. Stockton, 2 Watts & Serg. 163. 1 United States v. Kirby, 7 Wall. 482. |