ex post facto

See also: expostfacto

English

Alternative forms

• expost facto
• expostfacto

Etymology

From Latin ex (“from”) + post (“after”) + facto, ablative of factum (“deed”). In Latin, ex takes the ablative case, while post takes the accusative case. (See Wikipedia for a discussion of the grammatical form and usage of this phrase.)

Adjective

ex post facto (not comparable)

1. Retroactive.
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula:

     One of them added that it was hard lines that there wasn’t any gentleman “such-like as yourself, squire,” to show some sort of appreciation of their efforts in a liquid form; […] The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been here limited; a noble use of them had, however, been made, and again I was compelled to deal with the result in an ex post facto manner.

   1. (law) Formulated or enacted after some event, and then retroactively applied to it.
      • 1998, Daniel E. Troy, Retroactive Legislation, page 56:

        Coupled with the Constitution's proscription of ex post facto laws is a similar prohibition against bills of attainder.

      • 2009 March 21, Jim McTague, “Would a Tax on Bonuses Be Constitutional?”, in Barron's:

        That the tax would take effect after some of the payments were made also raises issues. Says former Attorney General Richard Thornburg, also in an e-mail: "Such legislation could well run afoul of constitutional restrictions on bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, laws impairing the obligations of contract, unauthorized takings of property and the like."

Related terms

• ex post

Translations

retroactive

formulated or enacted after some event, then retroactively applied to it

Finnish: taannehtiva (fi)

Adverb

ex post facto (not comparable)

1. (law) By retroactive application of a law formulated or enacted after the deed in question.

   What he did was not a crime when he did it, but he was convicted ex post facto.

See also

• Ex post facto law on Wikipedia.Wikipedia