What is the Bill of Attainder?
A Bill of Attainder, also referred to as a writ or act of attainder, was a legal document that declared a person guilty of crime. This controversial document allowed the accused person to be imprisoned without the benefit of a trial. The Bill of Attainder was a common legal document during Stuart England and was used to punish many political enemies of the Crown. Compared to the writ of Habeas Corpus, which at least allowed an accused person to be tried by a jury, the Bill of Attainder bypassed this fundamental right and as such was often considered an abuse of legal power. Surprisingly for such a blatantly unjust document, the Bill of Attainder was only abolished in England in 1870.
The word "Attainder" actually stems from "tainted". It is therefore interesting that the bill was mostly used in penalising of acts of treason, such as the cases of William Laud and Thomas Wentworth.
The Bill of Attainder effectively suspended the accused person's civil rights and he was almost certain to be found guilty of the crimes outlined in the document, as long as the Crown officially approved it. For crimes that were considered extremely serious, such as treason, this document was practically a death sentence on its own. Aside from the severe penalty faced by the accused, his right to make a will was also denied and any property that he owned at the time of sentencing was to become the property of the court. This was a means to ensure that the family of the accused were punished as well, since they were considered guilty by association.
During the time of Stuart England, the Bill of Attainder was used primarily to punish nobles and various other influential people whom the Crown deemed were becoming too powerful for their own good. This included a number of nobles and those who were considered enemies of the crown.
In spite of the widespread infamy of the Bill of Attainder however, relatively very few of them were actually passed and it is highly likely that the vast majority of them were used in such celebrated cases as the ones that involved the various Parliaments and the aforementioned cases of Archbishop William Laud and Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Furthermore, although in many cases the source of the Bill of Attainder were different, the eventual results and the manner in they were carried out were largely the same.
The first recorded use of the Bill of Attainder was in 1321 and the last one was in 1798. Among the most well known people to be arrested and subsequently executed on the strength of this bill were Thomas Cromwell in 1540, Catherine Howard in 1542 and William laud and Thomas Wentworth who were served in 1641. In the case of Catherine Howard, King Henry VIII actually left the responsibility of passing the Royal Assent to other lawmakers in order to avoid signing the bill himself.
In some cases, particularly Oliver Cromwell and John Bradshaw, the Bill of Attainder was served posthumously and the corpses of the offenders were exhumed and symbolically executed.
Original Authors: Doods Pangburn
Edit Update Authors: RPN
Updated On: 26/02/2007
