Forfeiture - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition forfeiture

Definition :

Forfeiture, a penalty for an offence or unlawful act, or for some wilful omission of a tenant of property whereby he loses it, together with his title, which devolves upon others.

Forfeiture resulted from the following circumstan-ces:--(1) Treason, misprision of treason, felony, murder, self-murder, pr'munire, and striking or threatening a judge. But the (English) Forfeiture Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23), enacted that no conviction, etc., for treason or felony, or felo de se, shall cause any forfeiture except as consequent on outlawry. The Act also makes provision for the appointment by the Crown of administrators of the property of convicts.

(2) Conveyance contrary to law, as transferring a freehold to an alien, who formerly could take lands but could not hold them; wherefore upon office found the Crown was entitled to the land. But the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914 (substituted for the (English) Naturalization Act, 1870), subject to certain provisoes, enables aliens to hold real and personal property. See ALIEN.

(3) Alienation in mortmain, or to any kind of corporation (which was supposed to hold property in a dead hand locked up from all change or transfer), was prohibited under pain of forfeiture to the lord. The Crown may, however (see MORTMAIN), grant a licence which will avoid this forfeiture. By the (English) Mortmain and Charitable Uses Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 42), s. 1, land assured to or acquired by or on behalf of any corporation in mortmain otherwise than under a licence under the Crown or of a Statute shall be forfeited to the Crown or the mesne lord. Apparently, the Land Charges Act, 1922, abolish-ing copyholds, may not having affected the claim to forfeiture by mesne lords under this head, Halsbury, L.E., 2nd Edn., vol. 8, p. 83, n.

(4) Disclaimer, which is a tenant's denial of his landlord's title, by setting up a title either in himself or any other person. this operates as a forfeiture of all interest in such tenant.

(5) Alienation without licence of copyhold land for more than a year was usually a cause of forfeiture before the (English) Law of Property Act, 1922, which enfranchised copyhold and customary lands (s. 128), but forfeiture incurred for reasons other than alienation in fee and alienation without licence was included among the manorial incidents which were saved by the Act until extinguished as provided by the Act. Relief against forfeiture included in the last-mentioned incidents is provided for under s. 132 of the (English) L.P. Act, 1922, and s. 146 of the (English) L.P. Act, 1925, and the compensation payable upon any kind of forfeiture or copyhold or customary land is set out in (English) L.P. Act, 1922, 13th Sched., Part. II.

(6) Breaches of covenants or conditions contained in a lease or other instrument, when it is stipulated that they shall occasion forfeiture; a forfeiture under these circumstances may be waived by the person entitled to take advantage of it, by express declaration, or by any act inconsistent with it, or admitting a continuing tenancy, as by receiving rent accrued due since the breach, or distraining for the same, or by subsequently encouraging the tenant to make subsequent improvements; but he must have fully known of the act of forfeiture at the time of waiver, otherwise it will be no waiver.

Relief against forfeiture of the lease, where the breach was by non-payment of rent, was granted by courts of equity from very early times. Relief may be granted under the (English) Judic. Act, 1925, s. 46, replacing (English) Common Law Procedure Act, 1860 (23 & 24 Vict. c. 126), s. 1. This relief is obtainable at any time within six months after execution [(English) C.L.P. Act, 1852, ss. 211, 212.] See Barratt v. Richardson, (1930) 1 KB 686. Where the breach was bynt insuring, relief was granted under repealed parts of the (English) Law of Property Amendment Act, 1859 (22 & 23 Vict. c. 35), and of the (English) Common Law Procedure Act, 1860, but only on the conditions that no loss had happened, that an insurance was on foot at the time of the application for the relief, and that the relief should not be granted again. Except as above, and except in rare cases of accident or surprise, no relief was grantable, however trivial the breach might have been, and however great might be the improved value of the demised premises, until the (English) Conveyancing Act, 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 41) (which repealed the prior enactments as to relief against forfeiture for non-insurance, but left standing those as to forfeiture for non-payment of rent), by s. 14, conferred on the High Court a general power to relieve against forfeiture. S. 14 was replaced and extended by s. 146 of the (English) Law of Properties Act, 1925. By this section, before proceeding to enforce a forfeiture, the lessor must serve on the lessee a notice requiring the lessee to pay compensation for the breach, and also remedy it if it be capable of remedy. If the parties fail to come to terms, and the lessor seek to enforce the forfeiture, the lessee may apply to the Court, which may grant or refuse relief as it thinks fit. The s. does not apply to a breach of covenant against assigning when the breach occurred before 1925, and see also (English) Landlord and Tenant Act, 1927, s. 19 (7), or to a condition for forfeiture upon bankruptcy, or in the case of a mining lease, to a covenant to allow the lessor to inspect books. The benefit of the Act was extended to under-lessees by (English) the Conveyancing Act, 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. 13), now replaced by the (English) L.P. (Amend.) Act, 1929. See also County Courts Act, 1934, s. 180.

It is very material to observe that the s. is (1) except in regard to assignments in breach of covenant before 1926, retrospective, so as to apply to leases made before its passing, and (2) incapable of being nullified by any stipulation of the parties.

(7) Waste. The (English) Statute of Gloucester (6 Edw. 1, c. 5), seems to have this operation; but the better opinion is that the forfeiture was abolished along with the writ of waste by 3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. 27, s. 36 and at all events is it never insisted on.

Besides the grounds of forfeiture mentioned above, there are two which obtain in reference to ecclesiastical property, viz., (1) lapse; and (2) simony.

Forfeiture, according to Black's Law Dictionary 'to forfeit' is 'to lose, or lose the right to, by some error, fault, offence or crime, 'to incur a penalty'. 'Forefeiture', as judicially annotated, is 'a punishment annexed by law to some illegal act or negligence.....', 'something imposed as a punishment for an offence or delinquency, R.S. Joshi v. Ajit Mills Ltd., AIR 1977 SC 2279 (2287): (1977) 4 SCC 98.