St. John's Law Review Volume 23 Number 2 Volume 23, April 1949, Number 2 Article 2 The Spectre of Attainder in New York (Part 2) Alison Reppy Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/lawreview This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in St. John's Law Review by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE SPECTRE OF ATTAINDER IN NEW YORK* V. FROM THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION IN 1789 TO 1830 A. Federal and State Constitutions As we have previously observed, the New York Consti- tution adopted at Kingston, April 20, 1777, in Article XLI had provided: "that no acts of attainder shall be passed by the legislature of this state, for crimes other than those com- mitted before the termination of the present war; and that such acts shall not work a corruption of blood." s15We have seen that this provision was of no aid to the loyalists, nor even to that group of Americans who loved their country and desired to remain neutral, as, for example, in the case of the distinguished lawyer, Peter Van Schaack, yet were not willing to commit treason against the British Crown. The Federal Constitution contained three provisions having a bearing on our topic.'8 6 Article III, Section III, Clause 2, provided that "No Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted." Article I, Section IX, Clause 3, provided that "No Bill of Attainder or Ex Post Facto law shall be passed," and Article I, Section X, Clause 1, provided that "No state shall .