Re: NANFA-L-- Interesting news article

Brian J. Torreano (headdarter-in-btdarters.com)
Wed, 26 Jul 2006 02:06:53 -0500 (CDT)

Derek,
You are 100% correct! It is indeed unconstituional for someone to be
busted for an action that was not illegal-in-the time they performed
said action. Laws that make previously-committed actions illegal are
called "ex post facto" laws. Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S.
Constitution says that, "No Bill of Attainder or EX POST FACTO Law
shall be passed". So what the restaurant owner did was not illegal!
In fact it's not illegal because he DIDN'T do anything. The article
says that, "The koi had been on display since Ly opened the
restaurant NEARLY 15 YEARS AGO..", and, "A FEW YEARS AGO, however,
Maine outlawed the importation and possession of koi..". Because Ly
imported and possessed the fish BEFORE the law went into effect, he
was not breaking the law by continuing to own the fish. The
officials who busted Ly should hope and pray that he doesn't take
them to court, because he would CLEARLY win on this one!

Brian

Brian J. Torreano - Owner
BTDarters
Your on-line resource for American Darters and other native fish for the
small to medium-sized aquarium!
Web: http://www.btdarters.com
Phone: (262) 268-7489

>From: Derek Parr <derekparr-in-earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
>To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
>Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- Interesting news article
>Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 13:36:49 -0400
>
>i was always under the impression that it was unconstitutional to bust
>someone for doing something they did before the law against it was created.
> Not that anyone cares about that outdated piece of paper any more.
>
>yet another example of the evils of self-righteousness I guess.
>
>-derek parr
>chapel hill, nc
>
>
>Bill Flowers wrote:
>>http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=149770&format=&page=1
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