🏛️ Bills of Attainder and the Private Citizen
by Hamburgler, America’s Favorite Anti-Villain
What’s a Bill of Attainder?
A Bill of Attainder is one of those old-world legal traps the Founders made sure to outlaw before handing the keys to the republic over to Congress.
In plain English, it means a law that punishes a person or group without a trial.
England used them to take out political enemies — Parliament would just declare someone guilty and seize their property. No jury. No defense. Just legislative vengeance.
That’s why the U.S. Constitution says, twice:
“No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.”
— Article I, Sections 9 & 10
Congress can’t do it. Neither can the states.
Why It Matters Today
That short line in the Constitution quietly shields every one of us from being legislated into guilt.
If you’re part of a private trust, guild, or society, that clause says the government can’t just declare your association “illegal” or “unrecognized” without a proper judicial process.
They have to prove something — in a real court, before a real judge — not in a legislative chamber or agency memo.
Private Trusts and Freedom of Association
A trust is just a private contract — an arrangement between living people about property and purpose.
The Solej Legacy Trust, Statum Mutatio Societas, or any other lawful private body exists under private law, not under the state’s corporate statutes.
If the state or federal government ever tried to:
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dissolve, penalize, or tax private trusts selectively, or
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declare a private guild “illegitimate” without hearing,
they’d be walking straight into the zone forbidden by the Bill of Attainder and Contract Clause (Article I, Section 10).
Article IV Citizenship: The Private Capacity
The Constitution also guarantees, in Article IV, Section 2, that:
“The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.”
That line preserves what’s called Article IV citizenship — your private, state-level status.
It’s the standing of a man or woman, not a government subject.
Under that status, you can’t lawfully be punished for simply existing outside a federal or statutory program. Any law that tries would again amount to a Bill of Attainder — punishing a status instead of an act.
The Right to Remain Private
Your right to associate privately, contract privately, and govern your own affairs under a trust or society is older than the United States itself.
The Constitution didn’t create that right — it recognized it.
So when you see a government overreach that looks like punishment without a trial — whether it’s blacklisting, confiscation, or forced compliance — remember:
It’s not just unfair.
It’s unconstitutional.
No legislature can “pass any Bill of Attainder.”
And that means the private citizen still stands higher than the political class — as long as they remember who they are.