Also known as: retroactively · retroactivity · retrospective
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A characteristic of legislation, judicial decisions, or administrative actions that extends their effect to events or transactions occurring before their enactment or pronouncement. The quality determines whether a new rule reaches backward to alter legal consequences already fixed by prior conduct or status.
Ruby Rivera received written notice that her Social Security disability benefits would end. She submitted a written response and later prevailed at a full evidentiary hearing. The agency then paid her the benefits that had been withheld during the period before the hearing.
Raphael Rivera sought to enjoin a new environmental regulation before any enforcement action occurred. He could not demonstrate that the agency was likely to apply the rule against his past operations. The court dismissed the suit because any retroactive enforcement remained only a conjectural possibility.
Ralph Richardson obtained a federal injunction requiring state officials to follow federal law going forward. He also sought money for past violations that would come from the state treasury. The Eleventh Amendment blocked the retroactive monetary award even though prospective compliance was permitted.
Renee Rogers faced a criminal charge after the legislature extended the statute of limitations for her alleged conduct. The original period had already expired when the extension took effect. The Ex Post Facto Clause prevented the retroactive revival of the time-barred prosecution.
Rebecca Ross was tried under a statute that placed the burden of proving extreme emotional disturbance on the defense. The court applied the rule to her case even though the conduct occurred before the statute's clarification. The retroactive operation of the burden allocation was upheld.
On December 27, 1970, Gordon Patterson shot and killed John Northrup in Glens Falls, New York. After a brief and unstable marriage, Patterson had become estranged from his wife Roberta. Roberta had resumed an association with Northrup, a neighbor to whom she had been engaged before her marriage to Patterson. Patterson borrowed a rifle from an acquaintance and went to the residence of his father-in-law. There he observed his wife through a window in a state of semiundress in Northrup's presence. He entered the house and killed Northrup by shooting him twice in the head. Patterson was charged with second-degree murder. At his jury trial in Warren County Court, Patterson raised the affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance and presented psychiatric evidence tending to show that he had been extremely emotionally disturbed when he killed Northrup. The jury was instructed that the prosecution had the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt each element of the crime of murder. The defendant had the burden of proving the affirmative defense by a preponderance of the evidence. The jury convicted Patterson of second-degree murder. The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction. While appeal to the New York Court of Appeals was pending, this Court decided Mullaney v. Wilbur. The New York Court of Appeals nevertheless affirmed, distinguishing the Maine statute at issue in Mullaney and holding that New York's allocation of the burden of proof on the affirmative defense was consistent with due process. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari limited to the question whether the burden of proof placed on the defendant by New York law is consistent with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
View caseRoger Ramirez seized enemy property during a conflict after the sovereign had prohibited such acts. The sovereign later ratified the seizure through a retroactive measure. The ratification gave validity to the prior capture despite the initial prohibition.
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View caseNo. Retroactive tax legislation satisfies due process when supported by a legitimate legislative purpose furthered by rational means, such as correcting a loophole over a short period.
A court may modify the terms of a trust or governing instrument to achieve the settlor's or transferor's tax objectives, provided the modification is not contrary to probable intention, and may give the modification retroactive effect.
No. Under the Model Business Corporation Act, the board may fix a record date for distributions, share dividends, or shareholder meetings, but the date may not be retroactive.
No. The clause prohibits statutes that retroactively revive time-barred prosecutions or alter the quantum of evidence needed to convict, but due process separately bars courts from retroactively interpreting criminal law in an unexpected and indefensible manner.
…the Governor supply the necessary proof. It may be doubted that a failure to retract which is not itself evidence of malice can retroactively become such by virtue of a retraction subsequently made to another party. But in any event that did not happen here, since the explanation given by the Times' Secretary for the distinction…