Retroactive statutes are rarely challenged because prospective operation is the strong tradition.

Evidence

Outside the sphere of criminal law, the main check upon retroactive legislation is the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, in the case of the Federal Government, and of the Fourteenth Amendment, in the case of the states. But there are surprisingly few cases under either amendment. The tradition of prospective operation of statutes has been too strong to permit frequent testing of the permissible scope of retroactivity. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 3021

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Prospective overruling shifts the judge role toward a political overreaching that no theory contains — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 2850