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4517. LAW, Retrospective.—

I agree in
an almost unlimited condemnation of retrospective
laws. The few instances of wrong
which they redress are so overweighed by the
insecurity they draw over all property and
even over life itself, and by the atrocious violations
of both to which they lead, that it is
better to live under the evil than the remedy.—
Official Opinion. Washington ed. vii, 470. Ford ed., v, 176.
(1790)