ex post facto

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ex post facto
\ex" post` fac"to\, or ex postfacto \ex" post`fac"to\ (&ebreve;ks" pōst" făk"t&osl;) ]. [l., from what is done afterwards.] (law) from or by an after act, or thing done afterward; in consequence of a subsequent act; retrospective.
ex post facto
law, a law which operates by after enactment. the phrase is popularly applied to any law, civil or criminal, which is enacted with a retrospective effect, and with intention to produce that effect; but in its true application, as employed in american law, it relates only to crimes, and signifies a law which retroacts, by way of criminal punishment, upon that which was not a crime before its passage, or which raises the grade of an offense, or renders an act punishable in a more severe manner that it was when committed. ex post facto laws are held to be contrary to the fundamental principles of a free government, and the states are prohibited from passing such laws by the constitution of the united states.
ex post facto
adj : affecting things past; "retroactive tax increase"; "an ex-post-facto law"; "retro pay" [syn: retroactive, retro]

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