WAIF. If the goods of any person were stolen, and the thief thinking that pursuit was made after him, fled, and during his flight waived or abandoned the goods, they became waif, and were forfeited to the king. The king could grant the right of waif to others ; and many lords of manors were entitled to waif by prescription or presumption of an antient grant to that effect. No goods could become waif which were not in pos session of the thief at the time of his flight. Therefore if he concealed the goods, or placed them in a house, or left a horse at an inn in pledge for his meat, and afterwards fled, the goods did not become waif.
It was necessary, in order to complete the title of the king or lord of the manor to waif, that it should be taken possession of by some one on his behalf; otherwise the original owner was not barred from recovering his goods at any time, and if he seized them first, they remained his property. Various other rules as to
waif are merely legal curiosities.
Lord Coke distinguishes between waif which was stolen property, and the goods which were the property of a person who fled for a felony, which goods were always forfeited on proof and finding by a jury of the fact of flight, even though the party were acquitted of the felony. By 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c.29, s. 57, the court be fore whom a prisoner is convicted has power in all cases, without restriction as to time, to make restitution of stolen pro perty to the owner, except as to nego tiable instruments in the hands of parties who, without notice, have given value for them : and by 7 & 8 Geo. IV. C. 28, s. 5, the jury are no longer to be charged to inquire whether a prisoner fled for trea son or felony, and there is now no forfei ture for sach flight.
(5 Co. 109: Com. Dig. tit. Waifel