Law
The term is used in situations where the law is changed, making a previously committed lawful act now unlawful. Sir Stuart Bell used the term "retrospectivity" to describe the Thomas Legg audit of MPs' expenses. Usually the terms ex post facto law or retroactive law are used. An example for a retrospective or retroactive law in force is the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN Code), a convention which governs the formal scientific naming of animals, of which the 4th edition is effective since 2000. All previous editions of the ICZN Code, or previous other rules and conventions have no force any more today, and the scientific names published back in these times are to be evaluated only under the present edition of the ICZN Code.
Read more about this topic: Retrospective
Famous quotes containing the word law:
“It seems to be a law of nature that no man, unless he has some obvious physical deformity, ever is loth to sit for his portrait.”
—Max Beerbohm (1872–1956)
“In a democracy—even if it is a so-called democracy like our white-élitist one—the greatest veneration one can show the rule of law is to keep a watch on it, and to reserve the right to judge unjust laws and the subversion of the function of the law by the power of the state. That vigilance is the most important proof of respect for the law.”
—Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)
“The law isn’t justice. It’s a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)