FORFEITURE
forfeiture (for-fi-ch<<schwa>>r), n.1. The divestiture of property without compensation. 2.
The loss of a right, privilege, or property because of a crime, breach of obligation, or neglect of
duty. • Title is instantaneously transferred to another, such as the government, a corporation, or a
private person. [Cases: Controlled Substances 162; Forfeitures 1.C.J.S. RICO (Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) § 30.] 3. Something (esp. money or property) lost or
confiscated by this process; a penalty. — forfeit,vb. — forfeitable,adj.
civil forfeiture.An in rem proceeding brought by the government against property that either
facilitated a crime or was acquired as a result of criminal activity. [Cases: Controlled Substances
162; Forfeitures 1. C.J.S. RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) § 30.]
criminal forfeiture.A governmental proceeding brought against a person to seize property as
punishment for the person’s criminal behavior. [Cases: Controlled Substances 162; Forfeitures
- C.J.S. RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) § 30.]
forfeiture of marriage.Hist. A penalty exacted by a lord from a ward who married without the
lord’s consent. • The penalty was a money payment double the value that the marriage would
otherwise have been worth to the lord.
forfeiture of pay.Military law. A punishment depriving the guilty party of all or part of his or
her military pay. [Cases: Armed Services 48; Military Justice 1322. C.J.S. Armed Services §
181; Military Justice §§ 384–391, 423–427, 434.]
- A destruction or deprivation of some estate or right because of the failure to perform some
obligation or condition contained in a contract.“[When a condition] is not likely to occur until the
obligee has relied on the expected exchange by, for example, performing or preparing to
perform, … nonoccurrence of the condition results in the obligee’s loss of its reliance interest when
the obligee loses the right to that exchange. This loss of reliance interest is often described as
‘forfeiture.’ ” E. Allan Farnsworth, Contracts § 8.4, at 533 (3d ed. 1999). [Blacks Law 8th]