BILL OF PAINS AND PENALTIES - A
special act of the legislature which inflicts a punishment,
less than death, upon persons supposed to be guilty
of high offences such as treason and felony without
any conviction in the ordinary course of judicial
proceedings. It differs from a bill of attainder in
that the punishment inflicted by the latter is death.
The Constitution of the United States Provides that
'no bill of attainder shall be passed.' It has been
judicially said by the Supreme Court of the United
States, that 'a bill of attainder may affect the life
of an individual, or it may confiscate his property,
or both.' In the sense of the constitution, then it
seems that bills of attainder include bills of pains
and penalties.
