ex post facto


Pronunciation key

( eks pōst faktō )

ex post fac•to

adj.

[Med. L. ex postfacto from the thing or what is done afterward].

  1. Made after something. Done after something, but having retroactive effects
  2. Formulated and enacted and functions retroactively. Ex post facto law.

A law which is retroactive and makes an act a crime, that was not criminal under prior law when the act was actually committed. To increase the penalty for a crime that has already been committed or altering the rules of evidence to the disadvantage of the person who is under indictment for a crime. Congress is forbidden to pass any ex post facto law by Article 1, section 9, part 3 of the American Constitution and individual states are prohibited from passing any such legislature by Article 1, section 10, part 1.

References and Further Reading

  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition) ©1955
  • The New World Family Encyclopedia ©1955
  • The American Peoples Encyclopedia ©1960
  • Encyclopedia International ©1966 (Grolier Inc.)
  • The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition ©1985
  • Further Reading

  • Ex Post Facto Law
  • Ex Post Facto Law
  • Minnesota State Legislation: Prohibition against Ex Post Facto Law
  • Oxford Journals: Ex Post Facto Law
  • The Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 provides that: "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law will be passed."
  • Missouri Constitution, Article 1, Bill of Rights
  • University of Chicago Law, 1947
  • Cato Institute: The Case Against Ex Post Facto Civil Law
  • Ex Post Facto
  • Ex Post Facto, "No...ex post facto Law shall be passed." Article I, Section 9, Clause 3
  • 0 Read More »

    explication de texte

    0

    Pronunciation key

    ( ĕk-splē-kä-syÔN də tĕkst )

    ex•pli•ca•tion de texte

    n. [pl. explications de texte]

    [Fr. explication explanation + de of + texte text].

    A method employed to provide detailed analytical literary criticism in which a reading of a particular text is provided and expounds on its linguistic, compositional and expressive parts and aspects are reviewed by a synthesizing exposition with relation to each other and the whole work.
    This method provides a detailed analyses of the use of figurative language, image patterns, rhythm, ambiguities and structure - as well as their relationship to the whole.

    Practiced by Aristotle and used in England as a method of teaching Latin, it was developed extensively in French education. Explication de texte requires rigorous application of close verbal and structural analysis as a work of art, forcing the reader to ponder the rhetorical and logical patterns comprising the literary work.

    The technique was introduced into modern literary criticism by American Cleanth Brooks, and I.A. Richards of England and William Empson during the 1920's, all which were adherents of the New Criticism.

    References and Further Reading

  • Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia ©1984
  • The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition ©1985
  • Related Terms

  • explicable
  • explicate
  • explicative
  • Further Reading

  • Explication de texte (definition)
  • Explication de texte (definition)
  • Explication de texte (definition)
  • Explication de texte (definition)
  • Explication de texte (definition)
  • Explication de texte (definition)
  • Explication de texte (definition)
  • Explication de texte
  • Steps for Close Reading or Explication de texte: Patterns, polarities, problems, paradigm, puzzles, perception
  • Explication de texte
  • Read More »