AMENDMENT EIGHT
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. [Effective 1791.]
Source of the Eighth Amendment:
"In fact, the entire text of the Eighth Amendment is taken almost verbatim from the English Declaration of Rights, which provided '[t]hat excessive Baile ought not to be required nor excessive Fines imposed nor cruell and unusuall Punishments inflicted.'" Harmelin v Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 966 (1991).
Incorporated into the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment:
"The Eighth Amendment is incorporated in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. E.g., Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660, 666 (1962); Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber, 329 U.S. 459, 463 (1947) (plurality opinion)." Footnote 1., Stevens J., concurring and dissenting, in Spaziano v. Florida, 468 U.S. 447 (1984).