attainder, bill of

Legislative device that allowed the English Parliament to declare guilt and impose a punishment on an individual without bringing the matter before the courts. Such bills were used intermittently from the Wars of the Roses until 1798. The guilty party was deemed to be ‘tainted’ and so could neither inherit property nor bequeath it to an heir. Some acts of attainder were also passed by US colonial legislators during the American Revolution to deal with ‘loyalists’ who continued to support the English crown; these acts were later expressly forbidden by the US constitution.

Bills of attainder were expressly forbidden by the US Constitution. The use of the device has generally been deplored as it did not require the accusers to prove their case.