Okay, I have a quick writing question ...

[apocalypsos]

... and I wanted to write it down before I forget again, because I need to know it for my NaNo idea (it may involve making everything AU or going all alt-history or whatever). And I may research it later, but if anybody more knowledgeable than I can pipe up with the answer, I'd be more than grateful.

So -- and I should say before I get into this whole thing that this is an example, not the actual plot idea -- let's say that tonight you go out and have a beer or two. Then tomorrow, they outlaw liquor. I'm drawing a complete blank (and feeling like a bit of a dimwit in the process, because I know I know this) on what it is that keeps them from arresting you for the beer you had tonight, when the shiny new prohibition wasn't in effect.

That said, what would it take to get rid of the rule that says they can't arrest you for the beer you had tonight? So basically, they make this new prohibition, and because they've thrown out that rule, they can pretty much arrest anyone who's had a drink since, oh, 1933.

Comments

[newredshoes]

Maybe the word you need is "retroactive"?

[jmtorres]

Your example hurts my head a little because it's very... newspeak to say it is currently illegal and therefore always has been, as if all times are now.

But here's an example that doesn't make laws retroactive--this comes up in architecture and building codes, because when new building codes are passed, the old architecture still exists. Sometimes there is a grandfather clause--is that the phrase you're looking for? Old buildings are grandfathered in, and only buildings built after the code passed have to meet it.

It may also be worth noting that there is a difference between passing/repealing a law (changing what is legal, where what is legal before and after the point of change is different) and declaring a law unconstitutional (saying it was never legal).

[lilacsigil]

The law is not in force until the particular date. Is that the phrase you're looking for? They would have to make beer retroactively illegal for them to be able to arrest you for that beer you drank before the law passed, and most laws don't work that way.