"In the United States the doctrine of attainder is now scarcely known, although during and shortly after the Revolution acts of attainder were passed by several of the states. The passage of such bills is expressly forbidden by the Constitution."--Bouvier's _Law Dictionary_, Vol. I, p. 190.
"A bill of attainder, as thought of in the United States to-day, would be such law as permitted a person charged with the commission of a crime, to be tried and found guilty and sentenced without being present at the trial." It is one of the rules of procedure in court to-day that in all criminal cases the person charged with crime must be present during the entire trial. Another fundamental judicial fact is that all criminal punishment terminates with the death of the person found guilty; his children are exempt.
87 "An ex-post-facto law is a law which in its operation makes an act criminal which was not criminal at the time the act was committed, or provides a more severe punishment for criminal acts already committed, or changes the rules of procedure so as to make it more difficult for one accused of crime to defend in a prosecution of such crime." "The prohibition relates to retroactive criminal statutes providing a punishment for an act previously committed or increasing the punishment making it more difficult for the accused to defend, but not to retroactive laws, even though criminal, which mitigate the punishment or merely change or regulate the procedure without imposing any additional substantial burden on the accused in making his defense."--_Cyclopedia of American Government_, Vol. I, p. 700.
We should keep in mind that both "bills of attainder" and "ex post facto" laws have only to do with crimes and their punishment. These laws do not relate to civil matters.
88 Constitution of the United States, Art. I, Sec. 8.
Titles of nobility as recognized in many European countries include the following: duke, earl, marquis, viscount, and baron. These titles were in part hereditary and in part acquired. They always conferred special privileges both in rank and in political preferment. Such titles cannot exist in a democracy because they in their very nature destroy equality before the law, and that is the fundamental principle of democratic government.