Forfeit

— [L. Fr. forfait, forfaict; L. laX. forfactum, forisfactum^ Lost by one's fault or misconduct; forfeited. See To F(yrfeit. To FORFEIT, [from L. Fr. forfaire; L. Lat. forisfacere, forfacere; from foris, without, and facere, to make.] To lose what belongs to one by some fault, misconduct or crime, {rem suam ex delicto amittere;) to make it foreign to one's self, {sibi extraneum facere,) or put one's self out of it;

— to lose it to another, {rem culpa abdicere, alteriqueabjudicare;) to transfer involuntarily, as the consequence of one's own wrongful act, and by operation of law.* Spelman, voc.

Forisfacere.

Forfeiture involves the ideas not only of loss by the delinquent party, but of transfer or surrender to some other, whether it be an individual or the state. Thus, lands axe forfeited by one individual to another, as by a wrongful alienation, by breach of some condition, <i^c. In the feudal law, they yr ere forfeited to the lord by the misconduct of the tenant. See Forfeiture. Lands and goods are forfeited to the state as the consequence of crime; office is forfeited to the state as the consequence of misconduct, and life itself is sometimes foffeited to the law, as the penalty of its violation. To incur a penalty, {mulctam incurrere.) Spelman, voc.

Forisfacere.

To become liable to the payment of a sum of money. as the consequence of a certain act. Penal statutes frequently provide that a party found guilty of violating their provisions shall forfeit a sum of money, or article of property. To confiscate. Id. To forfeit and to eonfiscate, forfeited and confiscated, have sometimes heen used as synonymous terms. There seems, however, to he an obvious distinction between them, though it has been differently expressed by different writers. According to Staundford, goods are properly said to be forfeited where they have a known owner, who has committed some offence whereby he loses them; and confiscated when they are disavowed by an offender, as not his own, nor claimed by any. Staundf PL Cor. fol.

186.

Cowell makes forfeiture to be the more general term, and confiscation to be the particular forfeiture to the king's exchequer. The true distinction, however appears to be, thht forfeiture is the act of the individual, confiscation that of the state. The individual forfeits his the state confiscates it as foifeited. ?roperty, 'hat the terms are not convertible is shown in the absurdity of saying that the state forfeits, or the individual confiscates. The property is forfeited the instant the illegal or wrongful act of which forfeiture is declared to be the punishment, is committed; but it is not confiscated, that is, it does not vest in the government, until formally claimed or taken possession of.

1 Story* s R, 109.

See Confiscate.

See Confiscate.