Practice question
A statute declares a named class guilty of past wrongdoing, imposes a punitive monetary exaction immediately and excludes any judicial trial of guilt. Its defenders say the attainder prohibition concerns only death sentences, so a lesser punitive sanction is automatically outside it. Which is the best answer?
- Every noncapital legislative punishment is automatically exempt.
- Naming a class is sufficient to make any unrelated civil measure a conviction.
- The constitutional concern is legislative punishment without judicial trial; a lesser punitive sanction does not automatically escape that concern.
- Legislative publicity supplies every required judicial safeguard.
- A penalty becomes nonpunitive solely because legislators call it a fee.
Legal references
- 1987 Constitution, Article III, Section 22: https://lawphil.net/consti/cons1987.html
- Trillanes IV v. Medialdea, G.R. Nos. 241494, 256660 and 256078, April 3, 2024, main decision, ex post facto and attainder discussion: https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2024/apr2024/gr_241494_2024.html
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