Eighth Amendment To The United States Constitution
The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights prohibiting the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause applies to the states. The phrases employed originated in the English Bill of Rights of 1689.
Read more about Eighth Amendment To The United States Constitution: Background, Cruel and Unusual Punishments, Evolving Standards of Decency, Excessive Fines, Excessive Bail
Famous quotes containing the words eighth, amendment, united, states and/or constitution:
“We do not weary of eating and sleeping every day, for hunger and sleepiness recur. Without that we should weary of them. So, without the hunger for spiritual things, we weary of them. Hunger after righteousnessthe eighth beatitude.”
—Blaise Pascal (16231662)
“[Asserting] important First Amendment rights ... why should [executions] be the one area that is conducted behind closed doors?... Why shouldnt executions be public?”
—Phil Donahue (b. 1935)
“When, in some obscure country town, the farmers come together to a special town meeting, to express their opinion on some subject which is vexing to the land, that, I think, is the true Congress, and the most respectable one that is ever assembled in the United States.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“Money is power, and in that government which pays all the public officers of the states will all political power be substantially concentrated.”
—Andrew Jackson (17671845)
“The Constitution and the laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble.”
—Andrew Jackson (17671845)