TAINDER and ESCHEAT.
In criminal cases forfeiture is three ' fold :-1. Of real estates absolutely, as for high treason ; if freehold, to the king ; if copyhold, to the lord. 2. Of the profits of the real estate, if freehold, to the crown during the life of the offender, and a year and a day afterwards, in the case of petty treason or murder ; after which the land escheats to the lord ; if it is copyhold, it is at once forfeited to the lord. 3. Of goods and chattels, in all eases of felony. Some other cases of forfeiture of lands or goods, or both, are established by different statutes, as the statutes of priemunire, &c.
Lands are forfeited upon attainder, and not before [ArrApinEa]: goods and chattels, upon conviction. The forfeiture of lands has relation to the time of the offence committed ; the forfeiture of goods and chattels has not, and those only are forfeited which the offender has at the time of his conviction. A bond fide alienation of his goods and chattels made by a felon or traitor between the com mission of the offence and his conviction, is therefore valid.
Forfeiture, in civil cases, takes place where a tenant of a limited, or, as it is called, a particular estate, grants a larger estate than his own, as where a tenant for life or years assumes to-convey the fee simple. So, if a eopyholder commits waste, or refuses to do suit of court, or a lessee impugns the title of his lessor ; for in all these cases there is a renunciation of the connexion and dependence, which constitute the tenure, and which are an implied condition annexed to every limited estate.
Forfeiture may also be the consequence of the breach of covenants between land lord and tenant, or persons connected in tenure ; but in cases of forfeiture where compensation can be made for the breach of the condition, a court of equity will compel the party entitled to the forfeiture to accept compensation. The right to
take advantage of a forfeiture may also be waived by any act of the person enti tled which recognizes the continuance of the title in the particular tenancy, as, for instance, the receipt of rent by a land lord in respect of a time subsequent to the act by which the forfeiture is incurred.
Lands may also be forfeited by alien ation contrary to law, as by alienation in mortmain without licence, or to an alien : in the former instance, if the immediate lord of the fee, or the lord paramount, neglect to enter, the king may ; and in the latter, though the conveyance is effectual, yet as an alien cannot hold lands the king may enter, upon office found. [ALLEN ; OFFICE FOUND.] Offices are forfeited by the neglect or misbehaviour of the holders ; and the right to the next presentation to ecclesi astical benefices is forfeited by Simony and by Lapse. [BENEFICE, p. 351; AD VOWSON, p. 48.] The term Confiscation is not now used as a term of English law, but it was once in use, and was applied to those goods which were forfeited to the king's Exche quer. Goods confiscated, it is said, are generally such as were arrested and seized to the king's use, and therefore goods con fiscated and goods forfeited are synony mous terms. If this explanation is right, Forfeiture is a more comprehensive term than Confiscation in English law.
Confiscation is from the Latin Confisca tio, which properly means the seizure of the property of an offender for the Impe rial Fiscus, or the Imperial treasury : the property of the Roman Emperor, as Em peror, was expressed by the term Fiscus. Fiscus signifies a wicker basket : the word Hamper (hamper) has the same meaning.