Applying newly changed law retroactively would let posterity govern the living

Evidence

It has often been said that the living shoutld not be governed by the dead, for that would be to close our eyes to the changing conditions which time imrposes. It seems even sounder to say that the living should not be governed by their posterity, for that, in term, would be downright chaotic.’ — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 2929

Categorization

• DEFINE: A pithy statement of the retroactivity dilemma in overruling doctrine — a phrase useful for defining the temporal reach problem.
• APHORISMS: ‘The living should not be governed by their posterity’ reads as a durable, quotable principle about the ethics of legal change.
• XREF: connects to: Law operates best as present, prospective force serving the parties and society — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 2924; Courts can choose prospective scope when announcing new constitutional rules — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 2945; Future free acts retroactively determine what our present conduct means. (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Future free acts retroactively determine what our present conduct means. #corroborates (0.85)
• Courts reason that binding successors harms the public by blocking adaptive response to change #corroborates (0.78) — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 132
• Courts may not amend a statute however desirable policy change may be #qualifies (0.72) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1059