Ex Post Facto Clause
E285910
The Ex Post Facto Clause is a constitutional prohibition that prevents governments from retroactively criminalizing conduct or increasing punishments after the fact.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Ex Post Facto Clause canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2652819 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ex Post Facto Clause Context triple: [Contract Clause, relatedTo, Ex Post Facto Clause]
-
A.
Guarantee Clause
The Guarantee Clause is a provision of the U.S. Constitution that obligates the federal government to ensure every state maintains a republican form of government and protection against invasion and domestic violence.
-
B.
Necessary and Proper Clause
The Necessary and Proper Clause is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that grants Congress the authority to enact laws needed to execute its enumerated powers, forming the basis for implied federal powers.
-
C.
Compact Clause of the United States Constitution
The Compact Clause of the United States Constitution is the provision that restricts states from entering into agreements or compacts with other states or foreign powers without the consent of Congress.
-
D.
Supremacy Clause
The Supremacy Clause is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that establishes federal law and the Constitution as the highest law of the land, overriding conflicting state laws.
-
E.
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution is a key component of the Bill of Rights that protects individuals against self-incrimination, double jeopardy, and deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ex Post Facto Clause Target entity description: The Ex Post Facto Clause is a constitutional prohibition that prevents governments from retroactively criminalizing conduct or increasing punishments after the fact.
-
A.
Guarantee Clause
The Guarantee Clause is a provision of the U.S. Constitution that obligates the federal government to ensure every state maintains a republican form of government and protection against invasion and domestic violence.
-
B.
Necessary and Proper Clause
The Necessary and Proper Clause is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that grants Congress the authority to enact laws needed to execute its enumerated powers, forming the basis for implied federal powers.
-
C.
Compact Clause of the United States Constitution
The Compact Clause of the United States Constitution is the provision that restricts states from entering into agreements or compacts with other states or foreign powers without the consent of Congress.
-
D.
Supremacy Clause
The Supremacy Clause is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that establishes federal law and the Constitution as the highest law of the land, overriding conflicting state laws.
-
E.
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution is a key component of the Bill of Rights that protects individuals against self-incrimination, double jeopardy, and deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
constitutional provision
ⓘ
legal doctrine ⓘ |
| aimsTo |
ensure fair notice of criminal liability
ⓘ
prevent arbitrary and vindictive legislation ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
United States government
ⓘ
surface form:
federal government of the United States
state governments of the United States ⓘ |
| appliesWhen | a law is passed after the commission of the offense ⓘ |
| bindingOn |
United States Congress
ⓘ
surface form:
Congress of the United States
state legislatures ⓘ |
| category | non-retroactivity principle ⓘ |
| definedBy | Calder v. Bull categories of ex post facto laws ⓘ |
| doesNotApplyTo |
judicial decisions changing interpretation of criminal law
ⓘ
procedural changes that do not increase punishment ⓘ purely civil legislation in most cases ⓘ |
| enshrinedIn | Article I of the United States Constitution ⓘ |
| foundIn |
Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution
ⓘ
surface form:
Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution
Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution ⓘ
surface form:
Article I, Section 9, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution
|
| historicalOrigin | concerns about abuses by English Parliament ⓘ |
| influenced | state constitutional provisions on ex post facto laws ⓘ |
| inspiredBy | Enlightenment ideas about legality ⓘ |
| interpretedBy | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| interpretedIn |
Calder v. Bull
ⓘ
Carmell v. Texas ⓘ Collins v. Youngblood ⓘ Dobbert v. Florida ⓘ Lynce v. Mathis ⓘ Weaver v. Graham ⓘ |
| language | "No ex post facto Law shall be passed" ⓘ |
| legalEffect | invalidates ex post facto criminal laws ⓘ |
| partOf | United States Constitution ⓘ |
| prohibits |
laws that change rules of evidence to make conviction easier after the fact
ⓘ
laws that criminalize conduct that was innocent when done ⓘ laws that increase punishment for a crime after it was committed ⓘ retroactive criminal legislation ⓘ retroactive enhancement of criminal penalties ⓘ retroactive redefinition of crimes ⓘ retroactive removal of defenses to criminal liability ⓘ |
| protects |
criminal defendants
ⓘ
reliance interests in existing criminal law ⓘ |
| purpose |
to preserve separation of powers between legislature and judiciary
ⓘ
to prevent retroactive criminalization ⓘ to prevent retroactive increases in punishment ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Bill of Attainder Clause
ⓘ
Due Process Clause ⓘ nullum crimen sine lege ⓘ principle of legality ⓘ |
| requires | that criminal laws operate prospectively ⓘ |
| scope |
criminal law
ⓘ
punishment ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Ex Post Facto Clause Description of subject: The Ex Post Facto Clause is a constitutional prohibition that prevents governments from retroactively criminalizing conduct or increasing punishments after the fact.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.