FORFEITURE AND CORRUPTION OF BLOOD arc penalties consequent on convictions for treason or felony. The penalty of forfeiture for treason is founded on this consider ation, that he who hath thus violated the first principles of go'vernment, and broken his part in the original contract between king and people, hath abandoned his connec tion' with society, and hath no longer any right to those advantages which before belonged to him purely as a member of the communitr(Stephen's Corn. iv. 497). The penalty of forfeiture for treason prevailed in England before the conquest, as is clear from the fact, that lands held in gavelkind, which is a Saxon tenure, may be forfeited for treason. But after the conquest, forfeiture of lands and goods came to be regarded as the peculiar punishment of felony, of which treason against the sovereign was the highest kind, and was denominated high treason, to distinguish it from all other felonies, which were called petty treason. In cases of treason, the offender forfeits all his lands absolutely to the crown. In felony, according to the old law, the offender forfeited to the crown the profits of all estates of freehold duringhis life, and all his estates in fee simple for a year and a day, after which they became escheat to the lord. The crown, during the year of occupancy, was entitled to commit upon the lands what waste (q.v.) it pleased. By magna charta, this power of committing waste was restrained. But by 17 Ed. IL c. 16, the king's title to waste was again recognized. As the law now stands, murder is the only felony by which forfeiture for year and day is incurred. In all felo nies, the goods and chattels of the offender are, on conviction, forfeited to the crown; but until conviction, forfeiture of the goods does not operate. Where, therefore, a per son has disposed of his goods before conviction, the crown cannot reach them. Forfeit ure.of lands does not take effect until sentence of attainder (q.v.) has been pronounced. So that a person committing felo de se (q.v.), or a rebel dying before sentence, or killed in open rebellion, does not forfeit his lands. But sentence of attainder, as soon as pro nounced, has a retroactive effect, and annuls all conveyances made between the act of treason or felony and khe pronouncing of sentence. Conveyances made before the act of treason are not affected. Hence, a wife's jointure is not forfeited, because settled on
her before the commission of, the act. But dower is.forfeited by 5 and 6 Ed. VI. c. 11. Counterfeiting the coin was formerly treason; but by various.statutes, it is provided that the wife's dower should not be forfeited, and that the lands should be forfeited only for the life of the offender. Forfeiture for treason and felony is accompanied by corruption of blood, whereby the offender is incapable of inheriting any lands or of transmitting any title to an heir. But where the lands were not vested in the offender at the time of the act, they are not forfeited to the crown, but to the overlord. In England, this distinc tion is of little moment, except in copyhold lands, the crown being, in fact, the overlord of nearly all the freehold land in the kingdom. By 7 Anne, c. 21, it was enacted that, after the,deatit of the pretender and his sons, no attainder for treason should operate to the prejudice of other than the offender himself; but this provision was repealed, 39 Geo. III. c. 93. But in Scotland, where subinfeudation still subsists, the distinction. is of practical importance. In Scotland, before the union, forfeiture of estate was incurred on account of treason arid certain other crimes, as theft by a landed man, and utter ing false coin.. Lord Stair is of opinion that the doctrine of corruption of blood did not prevail in Scotland to exclude those claiming, through a person attainted, where the offender was, only apparent heir (Stair, iii. 3, 38). Since the union, the law of Scotland in regard to forfeiture for treason has been assimilated to that of England.
In America, forfeiture of estate for crimes is very much reduced, and the corruption of blood is universally abolished. Several of the state constitutions have provided that DO attainder for treason or felony shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate, except during the life of the offender, and some of them have taken away the power of for feiture absolutely, without any such exemption. Every person convicted ofany manner of treason, under the laws of New York, forfeits his goods and chattels, and also his lands and tenements, during his lifetime; but the rights of all third persons existing at the time of the commission of the treason, are preserved. Kent's Commentaries, ii. 505.