Attainder, uh TAYN duhr, is a legal term for the loss of civil rights by an outlawed person or a person sentenced to death. According to old English law, such people lost their rights to property. Their land and personal belongings were taken from them. Because they were judged to have suffered tainting (corruption of blood), they could not inherit property or leave property to anyone. Parliament put an end to attainder in Britain in 1870, and now almost all countries have abolished it. In the United States, people may lose their civil rights for the crime of treason, but the Constitution (Article III, Section 3 [2]) states their punishment may not affect their families, who may inherit their property.