Pardon

An act of grace, proceeding from the power intrusted with the execution of the laws, which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicte for a crime he has committed. U. S. v. Wilson, 7 Pet. 160, 8 L. Ed. 640; Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. 380, 18 It. Ed. 366; Moore v. State, 43 N. J. Law, 241, 39 Am. Rep. 558; Rich v. Chamberlain, 104 Mich. 436, 62 N. W. 584, 27 In In A. 573; Edwards v. Com., 78 Va. 39, 49 Am. Rep. 377. "Pardon" is to be distinguished from "amnesty." The former applies only to the individual, releases him from the punishment fixed by law for his specific offense, but does not affect the criminality of the same or similar acts when performed by other persons or repeated by the same person. The latter term denotes an act of grace, extended by the government to all persons who may come within its terms, and which obliterates the criminality of past acts done, and declares that they shall not be treated as punishable.

— Conditional pardon. A conditional pardon is one granted on the condition that it shall only endure until the voluntary doing of some act by the person pardoned, or that it shall be revoked by a subsequent act on his part, as, that he shall leave the state and never return. Ex parte Janes, 1 Nev. 319; State v. Wolfer, 53 Minn. 135, 54 N. W. 1065, 19 L. R. A. 783, 39 Am. St. Rep. 582; State v. Barnes, 32 S. C. 14, 10 S. E. 611, 6 L. R. A. 743, 17 Am. St. Rep. 832 ; People v. Bums, 77 Hun, 92, 28 N. Y. Supp. 300.

— General pardon. One granted to all the persons participating in a given criminal or treasonable offense (generally political), or to ali offenders of a given class or against a certain statute or within certain limits of time. But "amnesty" is the more appropriate term for this.