pardon, in law, release from guilt or remission of punishment. In criminal law the power of pardon is generally exercised by the chief executive officer of the state. Pardons may also be granted by a legislative body, often through an act of indemnity, anticipatory or retrospective, for things done in the public interest that are illegal.
A pardon may be full or conditional. It is conditional when its effectiveness depends on fulfillment of a condition by the offender, usually a lesser punishment, as in the commutation of the death sentence.
The effect of a full pardon is unclear in some jurisdictions. In England it is said that a full pardon clears the person from all infamy, removing all disqualifications and other obloquy, so that a pardoned person may take action for defamation against anyone who thereafter refers to him or her as a convict. In the United States the matter is much less clear, although the Supreme Court has held that a pardon blots out guilt and makes the offender “as innocent as if he had never committed the offense.” Some U.S. states have held that a pardon does not remove the disqualification from holding public office and that a pardoned offender may still be refused a license to engage in a business or profession. The difficulty stems from lack of differentiation between pardons granted for reasons of clemency and those granted from a belief in the accused’s innocence. Continental European and Latin American countries generally have detailed statutory provisions governing the law of pardon.