e page 343.)

_Clause 2.--The Writ of Habeas Corpus._

_The privileges of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended,
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may
require it._

"It has been judicially decided that the right to suspend the privilege of
the writ rests in congress, but that congress may by act give the power to
the president." [Footnote: Lalor's Cyclopedia of Political Economy]

The privilege of the writ never was suspended by the general government
until 1861. Questionable suspensions of the writ, covering a very limited
territory, had been made in two or three instances by generals.

So valuable as a "bulwark of liberty" is this writ considered to be, that
the courts of the United States have decided that, even in time of war,
the privilege of the writ can be suspended only in that part of the
country actually invaded, or in such a state of war as to obstruct the
action of the federal courts.

_Clause 3.--Certain Laws Forbidden._

_No bill of attainder[1] or ex post facto law[2] shall be passed._

[1] A bill of attainder was a legislative conviction for alleged crime,
with judgment of death. Those legislative convictions which imposed
punishments less than that of death were called bills of pains and
penalties. [Footnote: Cooley's Constitutional Limitations] The term is
here used in its generic sense, so as to include bills of pains and
penalties.

The great objection to _bills_ of attainder is that they are purely
_judicial_ acts performed by a _legislative_ body. A legislative body may
and should try a _political_ offense, and render a verdict as to the
worthiness of the accused to hold public office. But to try him when
conviction would deprive him of any of his personal rights--life, liberty,
or property,--should be the work of a duly organized _judicial_ body.

This provision, then is directed not so much against the penalty (for
limitations upon penalties are found elsewhere in the constitution,) as
against the mode of trial. Or we may say that it is intended to prevent
conviction _without_ a trial; for in previous times legislative bodies had
frequently punished political enemies without even the form of a trial, or
without giving them an opportunity to be heard in their own defense, by
passing against them bills of attainder.

[2] An _ex post facto_ law is, literally, one which acts back upon a deed
previously performed. But as here intended, it means a la