An ex post facto law (Latin for "from after the action" or "after the facts") is a law that retroactively

changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions that were committed, or relationships that
existed, before the enactment of the law. In criminal law, it may criminalizeactions that were legal
when committed; it may aggravate a crime by bringing it into a more severe category than it was in
when it was committed; it may change the punishment prescribed for a crime, as by adding new
penalties or extending sentences; or it may alter the rules of evidence in order to make conviction for
a crime likelier than it would have been when the deed was committed. Conversely, a form of ex
post facto law commonly called an amnesty law may decriminalize certain acts. A pardon has a
similar effect, in a specific case instead of a class of cases. Other legal changes may alleviate
possible punishments (for example by replacing the death sentence with lifelong imprisonment)
retroactively. Such legal changes are also known by the Latin term in mitius.
A law may have an ex post facto effect without being technically ex post facto. For example, when a
previous law is repealed or otherwise nullified, it is no longer applicable to situations to which it
previously was, even if such situations arose before the law was voided. The principle of prohibiting
the continued application of such laws is called nullum crimen, nulla poena sine praevia lege
poenali, especially in European Continental systems. This is related to the principle of legality.
Some common-law jurisdictions do not permit retroactive criminal legislation, though
new precedent generally applies to events that occurred before the judicial decision. Ex post
facto laws are expressly forbidden by the United States Constitution in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3.
In some nations that follow the Westminster system of government, such as the United Kingdom, ex
post facto laws are technically possible, because the doctrine of parliamentary
supremacy allows Parliament to pass any law it wishes. In a nation with an entrenched bill of
rights or a written constitution, ex post facto legislation may be prohibited.