Forfeit

To lose as the penalty of some misdeed or negligence. The word includes not merely the idea of losing, but also of having the property transferred to another without the consent of the owner and wrongdoer.

Lost by omission or negligence or misconduct Nolander v. Burns, 48 Minn. 13, 60 N. W. 1016.

This is the essential meaning of the word, whether it be that an oifender is to forfeit a sum of money, or an estate is to be forfeited to a former owner for a breach of condition, or to the king for some crime. Cowell says that forfeiture is general and confiscation a particular forfeiture S. ) to the king’s exchequer. The modern distinction, however, seems to refer rather to a difference between forfeiture as relating to acts of the owner and confiscation as relating to acts of the government; Clark v. Ins. Co., 1 Sto. 134, Fed. Cas. No. 2,832; Ocean Ins. Co. v. Polleys, 13 Pet. (U. S.) 167, 10 L. Ed. 105; Fontaine v. Ins. Co., 11 Johns. (N. Y.) 293. Confiscation is more generally used of an appropriation of an enemy’s property; forfeiture, or the taking possession of property to which the owner, who may be a citizen, has lost title through violation of laws.

See 1 Kent 67; Clark V. Ins. Co., 1 Sto. 134, Fed. Cas. No. 2,832.

A provision in an agreement, that for its breach the party shall “forfeit” a fixed sum, implies a penalty, not liquidated damages; Salters v. Ralph, 15 Abb. Pr. (N. Y.) 273; Richards v. Edick, 17 Barb. (N. Y.) 260; a contract to forfeit and pay a specified sum in default of performance is an agreement for liquidated damages; Nilson v. Jonesboro, 57 Ark. 168, 20 S, W. 1093; even where under the contract a bond is given as an earnest of good faith; id.