PARDON. An act of grace, proceeding from the power intrusted with the execution of the laws, which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed. 7 Pet. 160.
Every pardon granted to the guilty is in dero gatiian of the law: if tho pardon be equitable, the law is bad; for where legislation and the adminis tration of the law are perfect, pardons must be a violation of the law. Rut, as human actions are necessarily imperfect, the pardoning power must be vested somewhere, in order to prevent injustice when it is ascertained that an error has been oom mitted.
An absolute pardon is one which frees the lriminal without any condition whatever.
A conditional pardon is one to which a condition is annexed, performance of which is necessary to the validity of the pardon. 1 Bail. So. C. 283 ; 10 Ark. 284 ; 1 M'Cord, So. C. 176 ; 1 Park. Crim. Cas. N. Y. 47.
A general pardon is one which extends to all offenders of the same kind. It may be express, as when a general declaration is made that all offenders of a certain class shall be pardoned, or implied, as in CRSO of the repeal of a penal statute. 2 Ov. Tenn. 423.
2. The pardoning power is lodged in the executive of the United States and of the various states, and extends to all offences ex cept those which are punished by impeach ment after conviction. In some states a concurrence of one of the legislative bodies is required. See U. S. Const. art. 3, 2; N. Y. Rev. Stat. pt. 1, tit. 1, c. 8, 3 ; Ill. Const. art. 4, 8 ; Wisc. Const. art. 5, 6; Tex. Const. art. 5, 11 ; 12 Miss. 751 ; Penn. Const. art. 2, 9 ; Mich. Const. art. 5, subs. 11 ; Iowa Const. art. 4, subs. 11 ; Ohio Const. art. 2, 5 ; 1 M'Cord, So. C. 178 ; Mass. Const. art. 8, 1 ; Me. Const. art. 5, 11 ; Vt. Const. pt. 2, ,g 11 ; Va. Const. art. 4, subs. 4; 15 Ark. 427 ; 1 Jones, No. C. 1.
It is to be exercised in the discretion of ths power with whom it is lodged. As to pre mises of pardon to accomplices, see 1 Chitty, Crim. Law, 83 ; I Leach, Cr. Cas. 115.
In order to render a pardon valid, it must express with accuracy the crime intended to be forgiven. 4 Sharswood, Blaekst. Comm. 400 ; 3 Wash. C. C. 335 ; 7 Ind. 359 ; 1 Jones, No. C. 1. In case of a conditional pardon, if there be a breach of condition the pardon is avoided. I M'Cord, So. C. 176; 1 Bail. So. C. 283 ; 2 id. 516 ; 2 Caines, N. Y. 57 ; 1 Park. Crim. Cas. N. Y. 47. See 3 Johns. Cas. N. Y. 333 ; 9 Port. Ind. 20 ; 1 Bay, So. C. 334.
3. The effect of a pardon is to protect from punishment the criminal for the offence par doned, but for no other. 10 Ala. 475; I Bay, So. C. 34. It seems that the pardon of an assault and battery which afterwards be comes murder by the death of the person beaten would not operate as a pardon of the murder. 12 Pick. Mass. 496. See Plowd. 401 ; 1 Hall, N. Y. 426. In general, the effect of a full pardon is to restore the con vict to all his rights. But to this there are some exceptions. First, it does not restore civic capacity. 2 Leigh, Va. 724. And see 1 Strobh. So. C. 150 ; 2 Wheel. Cr. Cas. N. Y. 451 ; 33 N. H. 388. Second, it does not affect a status of other persons which has been altered or a right which has accrued in consequence of the commission of the crime or its pnnishment. 10 Johns. N. Y. 232 ; 4Wash. C. C. 64 ; 2 Bay, So. C. 565 ; 5 Gilm. Ill. 214.
4. When the pardon is general, either by an act of amnesty, or by the repeal of a penal law, it is not necessary to plead it ; because the court is bound, ex officio, to take notice of it, I Baldw. C. C. 91 ; and the criminal can not even waive such pardon, because by his admittance no one can give the court power to punish him when it judicially appears there is no law to do it. But when the par don is'special, to avail the criminal it rand judicially appear that it has been accepted; and for this reason it must be specially pleaded, 7 Pet. 150, 162 ; and if he has ob tained a pardon before arraignment, and in stead of pleading it in bar he pleads the gene ral issue, he shall be deemed to have waived the benefit of it, and cannot afterwards avail himself of it in arrest of judgment. I Rolle, 297. See I Dy. 34 a • Keilw. 58 ; T. Rayru. 13 ; 3 Meta. Mass. 45'3.
All contracts made for the buying or pro curing a pardon for a convict are void ; and such contracts will be declared null by a court of equity, on the ground that they are opposed 'to public policy. 4 Bouvier, Inst. n. 3857.
See, generally, Bacon, Abr. Pardon ; Co myns, Dig. Pardon ; Viner, Abr. Pardon ; 13 Petersdorf, Abr. ; Dane, Abr. ; Coke, 3d Inst. 233-240 ; Hawkins, Pl. Cr. b. 2, c.37 ; 1 Chitty, Crim. Law, 762-778 ; 2 Russell, Crimes, 595 ; Starkie, Crim. Plead. 368, 380. PARENS PATRLIS (Lat.). Father of his country. In England, the king ; in America, the people. 3 Sharswood, Blackst. Comm. 427 • 2 Stephen, Comm. 528 ; 4 Kent, Comm. 508', n. ; 17 How. 393; Shelford, Ins. I%