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forfeiture

Defined in 7 dictionaries — Case Law, Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1910), Kinney (1893), Burrill (1850)

Definitions from Case Law

From 302 U.S. 284 - Texas v. Donoghue · 1937Most cited · 79 citing opinions

Forfeiture of unlawful oil under Texas law is a penalty imposed to vindicate the State's policy of conservation.

Show all 7 Supreme Court definitions and how they changed over time 1808–1937

The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary

Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922

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.

Ballentine's Law Dictionary

James A. Ballentine · 1916

A deprivation of a right in consequence of the nonperformance of some obligation or condition. See 53 Ohio St. 558, 53 Am. St. Rep. 658, 30 L. R. A. 719, 42 N. E. 546.

Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia

John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914

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 Bla. Com. 267. A sum of money to be paid by way of penalty for a crime. Maclin V. Wilson, 21 Ala. 672; Anglea v. Com., 10 Gratt. (Va.) 700. Forfeiture hy 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; as if a tenant for his own life aliens by feoffments or fine for the life of another, or in tail, or in fee, or by recovery; there being estates, which either must or may last longer than his own, the creating them is not only beyond his power, but is a forfeiture of his oijrn particular estate; 2 Bla. Com. 274; 1 Co. 14 b. But no forfeiture estate during the life of the tenant In tall, at whose death it went to the heir in tail. This was called a discontinuance of the estate tail. 3 Bla. Com. 171. See Discontinuance of Estates. 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 81, 424; Mc Millan’s Lessee v. Robbins, 6 Ohio 30; Stevens v. Winship, 1 Pick. (Mass.) 318, 11 Am. Dec. 178; Rodfern v. Middleton’s Ex’rs, Rice (S. C.) 459; Stump v. Findlay, 2 Rawle (Pa.) 1G8, 19 Am. Dec. 632; French v. Rollins, 21 Me. 372. See, also, Stearn, Real Act 11; 2 Sharsw. Bla. Com. 121, n.; Wms. R. P. 25; 1 Washb. R. P. 92, 197. Forfeiture for crimes. Under the constitution and laws of the United States, Const art 3, § 3; Act of April 30, 1790, § 24, forfeiture for crimes is nearly abolished. And when it occurs the state recovers only the title which the owner had. See, also, Dalr. Feuds, p. 145; Fost Cr. Law 95; 1 Washb. R. P. 92; Story, Const 1296; Owens v. Owens, 100 N. C. 240, 6 S. B. 794. Forfeiture for treason. The constitution of the United States, art. 3, § 2, provides that no attainder of treason shall work forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted. The Confiscation Act provided that only the life estate of the convicted person can be condemned and sold; Bigelow V. Forrest, 9 Wall. (U. S.) 350, 19 L. Ed. 696; Day V. Micou, 18 Wall. (U. S.) 156, 21 L. Ed. 860. It was merely an exercise of the war power; Miller v. U. S., 11 Wall. (U. 304, 20 L. Ed. 135; and did not apply to the confiscation of enemies’ property; The Confiscation Cases, 1 Woods 221, Fed. Cas. No. 3,097. Forfeiture by nonrperformance of conditions. An estate may be forfeited by a breach or non-performance 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 Bla. Com. 281; Littleton § 361; 1 Prest. EsL 478; Tud. Lead. Cas. 794; Hayden v. Inhabitants of Stoughton, 6 Pick. (Mass.) 628; Andrews V. Senter, 32 Me. 394; Bowen v. Bowen, 18 Conn. 635; Stafford v. Walker, 12 S. & R. (Pa.) 190; Drown v. Ingels, 3 Wash. 424, 28 Pac. 769. Such forfeiture may be waived by acts of the person entitled to take advantage of the breach; Chalker v. Chalker, 1 Conn. 79, 6 Am. Dec. 206; Jackson v. Crysler, 1 Johns. Cas. (N. Y.) 120; 1 Washb. R. P. 454; Huklll v. Myers, 36 W. Va. 639, 16 S. B. 151. In order to authorize a claim to forfeiture of valuable property on account of violation of a condition, proceedings to

Black's Law Dictionary

Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910

The loss of property or Ilfe in consequence of crime.

Forisfactura plena. A forfeiture of all a man's property. Things which were forfeited. Du Cange. Spelman.

1. A punishment annexed by law to some Illegal act or negligence in the owner of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, whereby he loses uil his interest therein, and they go to the party injured as a recompense for the wrong which he alone, or the public together with himself, hath sustained. 2 Bl. Comin. 267. Wiseman v. Me-nulty, 25 Cal. 237.
2. The loss of land by a tenant to his lord, as the consequence of seme breach of fidelity. 1 Steph. Comm. 166.
3. The loss of lands and goods to the state, as the consequence of crime. 4 Bl. Comin. 381, 387 ; 4 Steph. Comm. 447, 452 ; 2 Kent, Comm. 385 ; 4 Kent, Comm. 426. Avery v. Everett, 110 N. Y. 317, 18 N. E. 148, 1 L. R. A. 264, 6 Am. St Rep. 368.
4. The loss of goods or chattels, as a punishment for some crime or misdemeanor in the party forfeiting, and as a compensation for the offense and injury committed against him to whom they are forfeited. 2 Bl. Comin. 42ffi It should be noted that "forfeiture" is not an identical or convertible term with "confiscation." The latter is the consequence of the former. Forfeiture is the result which the law attaches as an immediate and necessary consequence to the illegal acts of the individual; but confiscation implies the action of the state ; and property, although it may be forfeited, cannot be said to be confiscated until the government has formally claimed or taken possession of it.
5. The loss of office by abuser, non-usor, or refusui to exercise it
6. The loss of a corporate franchise or charter in consequence of some illegal act, or of malfeasance or non-feasance.
7. The loss of the right to life, as the consequence of the commission of seme crime to which the law has affixed a capital penalty.
8. The incurring a liability to pay a definite sum of money as the consequence of violating the provisions of some statute, or refusal to comply with some requirement of law. State v. Marion County Com'rs, 85 Ind. 493.
9. A thing or sum of money forfeited. Something imposed as a punishment for an offense or delinquency. The word in this sense is frequently associated with the word "penalty." Van Buren v. Digges, 11 How. 477, 13 L. Ed. 77 1.
10. In mining law, the loss of a mining claim held by location on the public domain (unpatented) in consequence of the failure of the holder to make the required annual expenditure upon it within the time allowed. McKay v. McDougall, 25 Mont. 258, 64 Pan. 669, 87 Am. St. Rep. 395; St. John v. Kidd, 26 Cal. 27L
—Forfeiture of a bond. A failure to perform the condition on which the obligor was to be excused from the penalty in the bond.
—Forfeiture of marriage. A penalty incurred by a ward in chivalry who married without thi consent or against the will of the guardian. See Duplex Valor Maritagii.
—Forfeiture of silk, supposed to lie in the docks; used, ia times when its importation was prohibited, to be proclaimed each term in the exchequer.
— Forfeitures abolition aet. Another name for the felony act of 1870, abolishing forfeitures for felony in England.

A Law Dictionary and Glossary

George C. Kinney · 1893

The loss of or transgression of surrender, consequent the thing so lost or

A New Law Dictionary and Glossary

Alexander M. Burrill · 1850

[L. Fr. forfaicture, from forfaire; L. Lvki. forisfaetura, forfactura.] The loss of what belongs to one, by some fault, misconduct or transgression of law. An involuntary or compulsory transfer or surrender, consequent upon one's own unlawful or wrongful act.* See To Forfeit Of this the fo Bowing are the principal varieties. The loss of land, or an estate in land, by one individual to another, as a punishment for some illegal act or negligence in relation to it; as for some alienation contrary to law, or the breach of some condition. 2 Bl. Com. 267, 274, 284. 1 Steph, Com, 421. 4 Kent's Com. 128. 2 Crahb's Real Prop. 89, § 1061, (Am. ed. note.) The loss of land by a tenant to his Tord, as the consequence of some breach of fidelity. 1 Steph. Com. 166. The loss of goods or chattels, as a punishment for some crime or misdemeanour in the party forfeiting, and as a compensation for the offence and injury committed against him to whom they are forfeited. 2 Bl Com. ^20. The loss of lands and ^oods to the state, as the consequence of crime. 4 Bl. Com. 381,.387. 4 SUph. Com. 447, 452. 2 Ken Vs Com. 885. 4 Id. 426. The loss of a certain sum of money as the consequence of violating the provisions of some statute, or refusal to comply with some requirement of law. The loss of ofl Bce, by abuser, non user, or refusal to exercise it. 1 Crabb*9 Real Prop. 456, § 576, et seq. The loss of life, as the consequence of the commission of some capital crime. For the American law of forfeiture in general, see the statutes of the several states, and of the United States, and see U. S. Digest and Supplement, Forfeiture,