Defining retrospectivity
Charles Sampford · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2006
Defining retrospectivity is in itself a serious challenge. Explanations definitely encounter controversies and limited application. In the attempt to consolidate all existing and acknowledged characterizations, this section offers a concise historical background of retrospectivity, highlighting broad and narrow classifications together with threshold points. Following the weighing of strengths and pitfalls of every definition and argument, it is inferred that the term does not necessarily imply an all-or-nothing feature of legislation; instead, it is something that has varying degrees of scope. This conclusion has noteworthy implications for the one-dimensional critiques of the process that search for loopholes in order to eradicate retrospective law making.