Forfeiture

A punishment annexed by law to some illegal act or negligence in the owner of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, whereby he loses all his interest therein, and they become vested in the party injured as a recompense for the wrong which he alone, or the public together with himself, hath sustained.

2 Bl. Comm. 267.

A sum of money to be paid by way of penalty for a crime.

21 Ala. (N. S.) 672; 10 Grat. (Va.) 700.

See "Confiscate." Forfeiture by alienation. By the English law, estates less than a fee may be forfeited to the party entitled to the residuary interest by a breach of duty in the owner of the particular estate.

2 Bl. Comm. 274.

In this country, such forfeitures are almost unknown, and the more just principle prevails that the conveyance by the tenant operates only on the interest which he possessed, and does not affect the remainderman or reversioner.

4 Kent, Comm. 81, 82, 424; 3 Dall. (Pa.) 486; 5 Ohio, 30; 1 Pick. (Mass.) 318; 1 Rice (S. C.) 459; 2 Rawle (Pa.) 168; 1 Wash. (Va.) 381; 11 Conn. 553; 22 N. H. 500; 21 Me. 372. See, also, Stearns, Real Actions, 11; 4 Kent, Comm. 84; 2 Sharswood, Bl. Comm. 121, note; Williams, Real Prop. 25; 5 Dane, Abr. 6-8; 1 Washb. Real Prop. 92, 197.

Forfeiture for crimes. Under the constitution and laws of the United States (Const, art. 3, § 3; Act April 30, 1790, § 24 [1 Story, U. S. Laws, 88]), forfeiture for crimes is nearly abolished, and when it occurs, the state recovers only the title which the owner had.

4 Mason (U. S.) 174.

See, also, Dalr. Feud. Prop. c.

4, pp. 145-154; Fost. Crim. Law, 95; 1 Washb. Real Prop. 92.

Forfeiture by nonperformance of conditions. An estate may be forfeited by a breach or nonperformance of a condition annexed to the estate, either expressed in the deed at its original creation, or implied by law, from a principle of natural reason.

2 Bl. Comm. 281; Litt. § 361; 1 Prest. Est. 478; White & T. Lead. Cas. 794, 795; 5 Pick. (Mass.) 528; 2 N. H. 120; 5 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 375; 32 Me. 394; 18 Conn. 535; 12 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 190. Such forfeiture Conn. 79; 1 Johns. Cas. (N. Y.) 126; Walk. Am. Law, 299; 1 Washb. Real Prop. 454 Forfeiture by waste.

Waste is a cause of forfeiture.

2 Bl. Comm. 283; 2 Inst. 299; 1 Washb. Real Prop. 118. See, generally, 2 Bl. Comm. c.

18; 4 Bl. Comm. 382; Bouv. Inst. Index; 2 Kent, Comm. 318; 4 Kent, Comm. 422; 10 Viner, Abr. 371, 394; 13 Viner, Abr. 436; Bac. Abr. "Forfeiture;" Comyn, Dig.; Dane, Abr.; 1 Brown, Civ. Law, 252; Considerations on the Law of Forfeiture for High Treason (London Ed. 1746; 1 Washb. Real Prop. 91, 92, 118, 197.