Forfeit

To forfeit signifies the incurring of a forfeiture or penalty and is antagonistic to the idea of mere payment of compensation for damages for breach of contract. 172 111. App. 92. 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. This is the essential meaning of the word, whether it be that an offender is to forfeit condition, or to the king for some crime. Cowell says that forfeiture is general and confiscation a particular forfeiture 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. 1 Story (U. S.) 134; 13 Pet. (U. S.) 157; 11 Johns. (N. Y.) 293. Confiscation is more generally used of an appropriation of an enemy's property; forfeiture, of the taking possession of property to which the owner, who may be a citizen, has lost title through violation of law. See 1 Kent, Comm. 67; 1 Story (U. S.) 134.

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.

To lose what crime; to make it lose it to another; to one's own wrongful

To lose an estate, a franchise, or other property belonging to one, by the act of the lew, and ag a consequence uf some misfeasance, negligence, or omission. will of the losing party,) and that the property ts either transferred to another or resumed by the original grantor. To incur a penalty; to become liable to the payment of a sum of money, as the consequence of a certain act,

5 1. To divest or to suffer divestiture of property, without compensation, in consequence of a default or offense. 3. To pay money as a mulct, or for a default or wrong. To take away all right from one person and transfer it to another.' In a contract -that a party shall " forfeit " a specified sum on a breach, equivalent to " penalty." ^ Forfeitable. Admitting of divestiture or loss by way of punishment or for neglect; opposed to non-forfeitable: as, a forfeitable or non-forfeitable policy of insurance. Forfeiture. Lands or goods whereof the property is gone away or departed from the owner.' A punishment annexed by law to some 1 1 Bl. Com. 289; 2 id. 38, 414-16; 3 id. 78; 4 id. 413, 420, 423, 433, 437. a [4 Bl. Com. 158; 10 Ph Ua. 361. ' Casey v. Hamed, 6 Iowa, 14 (1857); 1 La. An. 315. • Dennis v. Wilson, 107 Mass. 693 (1871), cases. 'F. forfait, a crime punishable by fine, a, fine: L. L. foris-facere, to trespass, lit, " to do beyond: " foris, out of doors, abroad, beyond; /acere, to do,

— Skeat; 1 Bl. Com. 299. • [Walter v. Smith, 5 B. & Aid. 167 (1822), Best, J. ' Taylor v. The Marcella, 1 Woods, 304(1873;; 17 Barb. illegal act or negligence in the owner of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, whereby he loses all his interest therein, and they go to the party injured, as a recompense for the wrong which either he alone or the public together with himself has sustained, i Forfeitures were called bo'na confiscata by the civilians, because they belonged to the fiscus or imperial treasury; and now, by us, foris facta, that is, such, whereof the property is gone away or departed from the owner. 2 Compare Confiscate. Forfeitures of estates were for breaches of the condition that the tenant should not do any act incompatible with the estate.' A penalty by which one loses his rights and interest in his property.* Property rights are forfeitable: by commission of crime; by alienation contrary to law fas, in mortmain, to an alien); by non-perfoi^ianoe of a condition; by waste; and by bankruptcy.^ Goods and chattels were totally forfeited by conviction of treason, misprision of treason, felony, petit larceny, flight upon charge of treason, etc.* In theory, the guilty person wholly abandoned his connection with society.' At common law, a forfeiture transferred title to the sovereign. In a statute, may mean that the State by ' indictment shall recover a sum to be levied of the person's property as a "fine." ^ " Forfeiture " has frequently been spoken of as equivalent to conveyance or grant.* Forfeitures are not favored. They are often the means of oppression and injustice. Hence, the courts are prompt to seize upon any circumstances that indicate an election to waive a forfeiture; as, the course of action of an insurance company. Where adequate compensation can be made, the law in many cases, and equity in all cases, discharges the forfeiture, upon such compensation being made.'," Equity never lends its aid to enforce a forfeiture or penalty." A clause of forfeiture in a law is construed differently from a similar clause in an engagement between individuals. A legislature always imposes a forfeiture ' 2 Bl. Com. 207. ' 1 Bl. Com. 299. See 1 Kent, 67; 1 Story, 134; 13 Pet. 157. S2B1. Com. 153. * Gosselink v. Campbell, 4 Iowa, 300 (1856). » See 2 Bl. Com. 267; 20 How. Pr. 370. 8 2 Bl. Com. 431. '3B1. Com. 299; 4 id. 381. 8 Commonwealth v. Avery, 14 Bush, 638 (1879). » Wallach v. Van Eiswick, 92 U. S. 211 (1875), cases. Strong, J. '"Knickerbocker Life Ins. Co. ii. Norton, 96 U. S. 239, 242 (1877), cases, Bradley, J.; Ins. Co. v. Eggleston, ib. 577 (1877); Olmstead v. Farmers' Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 60 Mich. 306 (1883). " Marshall v. Vicksburgh, 15 Wall. 149 (1872), cases; as a punishtnent inflicted for a violation of some duty enjoined bylaw; whereas individuals can only make it a matter of contract. ^ Provisions for forfeiture are regarded with disfavor and construed with strictness — when applied to contracts, and the forfeiture relates to a matter admittiuK of compensation or restoration; but there is no leaning against a forfeiture intended to secure the construction of public works where compensation cannot be made for the default, nor where the forfeiture is imposed by positive law.' Where an act woi-ks a forfeiture of goods, the government may at once seize them.^ Where an absolute forfeiture is the penalty, title accrues in the government when the penal act is committed. But where the forfeiture is in the alternative (property, or its value), title does not vest till an election is made.' "Where property is seized for condemnation for forfeiture, some notification of the proceedings, beyond the mere seizure, may be necessary.* Failure to pay a premium of life insurance (g. i;.) at the time specified involves an absolute forfeiture, for which, unless waived by the company, relief cannot be had." See War. Forfeitures for common-law offenses have been generally abolished. See Attainder; Bond; Charter, 2; Condition; Dowek; Felony; Land, Public; Pardon; Penalty; Becognizance; Search-warrant.

[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.