Ellingburg v. United States · ¶63

In a similar context, when a State sought nominally civil fines against a company for doing business without proper forms, this Court explained that the statute “was in the strictest sense a penal statute.” Wisconsin v. Pelican Ins. Co., 127 U. S. 265, 299 (1888). The Court held that the nominally civil statute was penal because “[t]he cause of action was not any private injury, but solely the offence committed against the State by violating her law.” Ibid. Likewise, “[t]he prosecution was in the name of the State.” Ibid. The Court explained that “[t]he real nature of the case is not affected by the forms provided by the law of the State”; these forms were “immaterial” to whether the law was criminal or penal in a constitutional sense. Ibid. Thus, the Court concluded, “[i]n whatever form the State pursues her right to punish the offence against her sovereignty,” an action is criminal or…

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