A way of condemning a person for a capital crime without having to resort to trial and judgement under the common law. Once attainted, the person would lose their property and land, and often their lives, and their offspring would not be able to inherit.
Attainder
Fact of the Day
In the 1330s a number of English knights went to war with France with eye patches covering an eye, having made a chivalrous pledge to their ladies that they wouldn't open one of their eyes until victory was achieved. Most of them died as a result.
Quote of the Day
"Revolution is not an apple that falls when it's ripe. You have to make it fall.
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~ Che Guevara
On This Day
193 Roman emperor Didius Julianus was executed by his successor, Septimius Severus. He had been emperor for a mere nine weeks, having bought the position when it was auctioned off by the Praetorian Guard.
1533 Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, was crowned Queen of England.
1939 Naval submarine HMS Thetis sank during trials in Liverpool Bay. Ninety-nine of her crew suffocated and there were just four survivors.
1962 Adolf Eichmann, organiser of the Holocaust, was executed at midnight (between 31 May and 1 June) for crimes against the Jewish people. He had evaded capture and justice for 15 years.