Stephen Johnson Field,
Locke v. New Orleans — Opinion of the Court
“ It simply authorized the imposition of a tax according to a previous assessment. In the second place, even if the law had been strictly retrospective, it would not have been within the constitutional inhibition. Ex post facto laws embrace only such as impose or affect penalties or forfeitures; they do not include statutes having any other operation. The term ex post facto, literally construed, would apply to any act operating upon a previous fact, yet the restricted sense stated is the one in which it has always been held. ”
