Retrospective laws
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 51 U.S. 395 - Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad v. Nesbit · 1850Most cited · 72 citing opinions
That there exists a general power in the state governments to enact retrospective or retroactive laws, is a point too well settled to admit of question at this day. The only limit upon this power in the states by the Federal Constitution, and therefore the only source of cognizance or control with respect to that power existing in this court, is the provision that these retrospective laws shall not be such as are technically ex post facto, or such as impair the obligation of contracts.
How often courts cite the case defining “Retrospective laws”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “Retrospective laws” — 72 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.