FORFEITURE. A punishment annexed by law to some illegal act or negligence in the owner of lands, tenements, or heredita ments, 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, bath sustained. 2 Blackstone, Comm. 267. A sum of money to be paid by way of penalty for a crime. 21 Ala. N s. 672 ; 10 Gratt. Va. 700.
2. 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 par ticular estate. 2 Blackstone, Comm. 274.
In this country such forfeitures are almost unknown, and the more just principle pre vails that the conveyance by the tenant operates only on the interest which he pos sessed, and does not affect the remainder-man or reversioner. 4 Kent, Comm. 81, 82, 424; 3 Dall. Penn. 486 . 5 30 . I Pick. Mass.
318 ; 1 Rice, So. C. 459 ; 2 Rawle, Penn. 168; 1 Wash. Va. 381 ; 11 Conn. 553 ; 22 N. H. 500 ; 21 Me. 372. See, also, Stearns, Real Act. 11 ; 4 Kent, Comm. 84 ; 2 Sharawood, Blackst. Comm. 121, Williams, Real Prop. 25 ; 5 Dane, Abr. 6-8 ; 1 Washburn, Real Prop. 92, 197.
3. Forfeiture for crimes. Under the con stitution and laws of the United States, Const. art. 3, 3 ; Act of 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 Mas. C. C. 174. See, also, Dal•ym ple, Feuds, c. 4, pp. 145-154 ; Foster, Crim. Law, 95 ; 1 Washburn, Real Prop. 92.
4. Foileiture by non-performance of con ditions. 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 Blackstone, Comm. 281; Littleton, 361 ; 1 Preston, Est. 478 ; Tudor, Lead. Cas. 794, 795 ; 5 Pick. Mass. 528 ; 2 N. H. 120 ; 5 Serg. & R. Penn. 375 ' • 32 Me. 394; 18 Conn. 535 ; 12 Serg. & R. Penn. 190. Such forfeiture may be waived by acts of the person entitled to take advantage of the breach. 1 Conn. 79; 1 Johns. Cas. N. Y. 126; Walker, Am. Law, 299 ; 1 Washburn, Real Prop. 454.
Forfeiture by waste. Waste is a cause of forfeiture. 2 Blackstone, Comm. 283; Cake, 2d Inst. 299 ; 1 Washburn, Real Prop. 118.
See, generally, 2 Blackstone, Comm. ch. 18 ; 4 id. 882,; •Bouvier, Inst. Index : 2 Kent, Comm. 318; 4 id. 422 ; 10 Viner, Abr. 371, 394; 13 2d. 436 Bacon, Abr. Forfeiture; Comyns, Dig.; Dane, Abr.; 1 Brown, Civ. Law, 252 ; Considerations on the Law of Forfeiture for High Treason, London ed.1746 ; 1 Washburn, Real Prop. 91, 92, 197, 118.