AMNESTY

Search:

AMNESTY

AMNESTY, government. An act of oblivion of past offences, granted by the government to those who have been guilty of any neglect or crime, usuallyupon condition that they return to their duty within a certain period. 2. An amnesty is either express or implied; it is express, when sodeclared in direct terms; and it is implied, when a treaty of peace is madebetween contending parties. Vide Vattel, liv. 4, c. 2, Sec. 20, 21, 22;Encycl. Amer. h.t. 3. Amnesty and pardon, are very different. The former is an act of thesovereign power, the object of which is to efface and to cause to beforgotten, a crime or misdemeanor; the latter, is an act of the sameauthority, which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from thepunishment the law inflicts for the crime he has committed. 7 Pet. 160.Amnesty is the abolition and forgetfulness of the offence; pardon isforgiveness. A pardon is given to one who is certainly guilty, or has beenconvicted; amnesty, to those who may have been so. 4. Their effects are also different. That of pardon, is the remissionof the whole or a part of the punishment awarded by the law; the convictionremaining unaffected when only a partial pardon is granted: an amnesty onthe contrary, has the effect of destroying the criminal act, so that it isas if it had not been committed, as far as the public interests areconcerned. 5. Their application also differs. Pardon is always given toindividuals, and properly only after judgment or conviction: amnesty may begranted either before judgment or afterwards, and it is in general given towhole classes of criminals or supposed criminals, for the purpose ofrestoring tranquillity in the state. But sometimes amnesties are limited,and certain classes are excluded from their operation.

Terms of Use | Canadian Lawyers