Chapter 15

EX POST FACTO LAWS

No ex post facto law or bill of
attainder shall be enacted.
(Constitution, Art. III, Sec. 22).

Definition
- Ex post facto is a latin word that means from after
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the action or after
the facts.

A law that would make a previous act criminal

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although it was not so at the time
it was committed.

a law can never be considered ex post facto as long

as it operates prospectively since its strictures would
cover only offense committed after and not before its
4 176169,
enactment. (Villar v. People, G.R No.
November 14, 2008)

KINDS
The following are considered ex post facto laws:
1.

Every law that makes criminal an act before the

passage of the law and which was innocent when
done and punishes such an act.

Ex. A law passed in 2000 raising the age of seduction

from eighteen to twenty five years, effective
1990.
2.

Every law that aggravates a crime or makes it

greater than it was committed.

Ex. A law passed in 2000 designating the crime of

homicide through reckless imprudence as murder,
effective 1990.

KINDS
3.

Every law that changes punishment and inflicts

greater punishment than the law annexed to the
crime when committed.

Ex. A law passed in 2000 increasing the penalty for libel

from prision correccional to prison mayor, effective
1990.
4.

Every law that alters the legal rules of evidence and

receives less or different testimony than the law
required 5at the time of the commission of the offense
in order to convict the offender.

Ex. A law passed in 2000 requiring for conviction mere

preponderance instead of proof beyond reasonable
doubt, effective 1990.

KINDS
5. Every law which, assuming to regulate civil rights and
remedies only, in effect imposes a penalty or the
deprivation of a right for something which when done was
lawful. (Katigbak v. Solicitor General, 180 SCRA 540)
Ex. A law passed in 2000 depriving professionals of the right
to practice for failure or refusal to vote, effective 1990.
6. Every law which deprives persons accused of crime of
some lawful protection to which they have become
entitled, such as the protection of former conviction or
acquittal or of a proclamation of amnesty.
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Ex.
A law passed in 2000 lengthening the period for
prescription of blackmail from five to ten years, effective
1990.

CHARACTERISTICS
Ex post facto law must be:
(1) refer to criminal matters
(2) be retroactive in its application
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(3) to the prejudice of the accused.
- Administrative Orders and Memorandum Orders have

also been held as not being covered by the

proscription against ex-post8 facto laws. (548 SCRA
295).
- Even if the law be penal and retroactive, it will still

not be ex post facto if it does not operate to the

disadvantage of the accused.

The basic rule is that a criminal act is punishable

under the laws in force at the time of its
commission. (The law looks forward not backward)
However, in penal laws, a law can only be made to
retroact only if:
a. It makes the penalty for a certain crime lighter.
b. It repeals a law making an act no longer a
c.

Ex.

criminal
It is favorable
to the accused who is not a
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habitual delinquent.
Retroactive application of RA No. 9344 The
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Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.

- Remedial laws may be also given retroactive effect and

may be made to apply to actions pending

undetermined at the time of their passage.

and

- Be it procedural, substantive or remedial for as long as

the law is favorable to the accused who is not a habitual

delinquent, the law must be given11
retroactive application.
(People vs. Vilo, O.G. 2517)
- These are the rule, the exception and exception to

the exception on effectivity of laws.

Bill of Attainder
- History -

A few centuries back, the parliament in England would at

times enact bills or statutes which declared certain persons
attained and their blood corrupted so that it lost all heritable
quality.
According to Justice Frankfurters observation, frequently a
bill of attainder was doubly objectionable because of its ex
post facto features. This is the historic explanation for
uniting two mischiefs in one clause
Therefore, if a statute is a bill of attainder, it is also an ex
post facto law. But if it is not, the reasons that establish that
it is not are persuasive that it cannot be a bill of attainder.

Characteristics
- A bill of attainder is a legislative act that inflicts

punishment without trial.

- It is a usurpation of judicial power by a legislative body.
- It envisages and effects the imposition of a penalty (the

deprivation of life, liberty or property) not by the ordinary

processes of judicial trial, but by legislative fiat.

- While cast in the form of special legislation, a bill of

attainder (or bill of pains and penalties, if it prescribed a

penalty other than death) is in intent and effect a penal
judgment visited upon an identified person or group of
persons and not upon the general community) without a
prior charge or demand, without notice and hearing,
without an opportunity to defend, without any of the
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civilized forms and
safeguards of the judicial process.
(People vs. Ferrer, 48 SCRA 382).