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Forfeiture - Law Dictionary Search Results

Home Dictionary Name: forfeiture

Forfeiture

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 ali...


criminal forfeiture

criminal forfeiture : the forfeiture of property used in committing a crime see also seize compare confiscate ...


forfeiture

forfeiture 1 : the loss of a right, money, or esp. property because of one's criminal act, default, or failure or neglect to perform a duty compare waiver 2 : something (as money or property) that is forfeited as a penalty ...


Forfeiture of marriage

Forfeiture of marriage, an ancient writ which lay against him who, holding by knight's service and being under age and unmarried, refused to marry the woman whom the lord offered him without disparagement, and married another, Fitz. N.B. 141; Reg. Brev. 163....


Forfeiture of shares

Forfeiture of shares. The number of shares forfeited by a limited company must be stated in the annual return (Companies Act, 1929, ss. 106, 110), and see Articles 23 to 29 of Table A., which enable directors to forfeit shares of a member failing to pay calls or instalments or any other sum payable in respect of a share, see Hopkinson v. Mortimer, Harley & Co., (1917) 1 Ch 646....


felony

felony pl: -nies : a crime that has a greater punishment imposed by statute than that imposed on a misdemeanor ;specif : a federal crime for which the punishment may be death or imprisonment for more than a year see also attainder, treason NOTE: Originally in English law a felony was a crime for which the perpetrator would suffer forfeiture of all real and personal property as well as whatever sentence was imposed. Under U.S. law, there is no forfeiture of all of the felon's property (real or personal) and such forfeiture is not part of the definition of a felony. For certain crimes, however (as for a conviction under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or a narcotics law), specific property, such as that used in or gained by the crime, is subject to forfeiture. Every state has its own statutory definition of a felony. Most are in line with the federal definition of a felony as a crime which carries a sentence of imprisonment for more than one year or the death ...


Felony

Felony [fr. felonie, Fr.; felonia, Lat.; some deduce it fr. Gk., a deceiver, and fallo, Lat., to deceive; Spelman derives it fr. the Teutonic or German fee, a fieu or fiet, and lon, price or value; Coke says, 'Ex vi termini significat quodlibet capitale crimen felleo animo perpetratum,' Co. Litt. 391 a], originally the state of having forfeited lands and goods to the Crown upon conviction for certain offences, and then, by transition, any offence upon conviction for which such forfeiture followed, in addition to any other punishment prescribed by law, as distinguished from misdemeanour, upon conviction for which to forfeiture followed. All indictable offences are either felonies or misdemeanours, but a material part of the distinction is taken away by the Forfeiture Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23), which abolishes forfeiture for felony, and provides for the administration of the estates of felons while undergoing sentence; see Carr v. Anderson, (1903) 2 Ch 279.The only remaining distin...


Leave to defend

Leave to defend. The repealed (English) Bills of Exchange Act, 1855 (18 & 19 Vict.c.67), commonly called 'Keating's Act,' allowed actions on bills or notes commenced within six months after being due, to be by writ of summons in a form provided by the Act, and, unless the defendant should within twelve days obtain leave to appear and defend the action, allowed the plaintiff to sign judgment on proof of service. This procedure was retained by the (English) Judicature Act, 1875, Ord. II., r. 6, but abolished in 1880 by Ord. II., r. 6 (annulled 1917).By (English) R.S.C. 1883, Ord. III., r. 6, as amended by (English) R.S.C. 1933, in respect of forfeiture for non-payment of rent, it is provided that in all actions where the plaintiff seeks merely to recover a debt or liquidated demand (see QUANTUM MERUIT) in money, or possession where a tenancy has expired or been determined by notice to quit, or has become liable to forfeiture for non-payment of rent, the writ of summons may, at the option...


Under-lease

Under-lease, a grant by a lessee to another, called under-lessee, or under-tenant, or sub-lessee, or sub-tenant, of a part of his whole interest under the original lease, reserving to himself a reversion; it differs from an assignment, which conveys the lessee's whole interest, and passes to the assignee the right and liability to sue and be sued upon the covenants in the original lease.An under-lease for the whole term of the original lease amounts to an assignment, Beardman v. Wilson, (1868) LR 4 CP 57.Between the original lessor and an under-tenant there is neither privity of estate nor privity of contract, so that these parties cannot take advantage, the one against the other, of the covenants, either in law or in deed, which exist between the original lessor and lessee [Holford v. Hatch (1779) 1 Dougl 183; Johnson v. Wild, (1890) 44 Ch D 146]; but the lessor can distrain on the sub-lessee or take advantage of a condition of forfeiture, G.W. Ry. v. Smith, (1876) 2 Ch D 253. By s. 4...


Escheat

Escheat [eschet or echet, formed from the word eschoir or echoir, Fr., to happen], a species of reversion; it is a fruit of seigniory, the Crown or lord of the fee, from whom or from whose ancestor the estate was originally derived, taking it as ultimus h'res upon the failure, natural or legal, of the intestate tenant's family.Escheat to the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster, the Duke of Cornwall and to mesne lords has been abolished by (English) Administration of Estates Act, 1925, s. 45(1). The right of the Crown to 'bona vacantia' now includes real property under (English) A.E. Act, 1925, s. 46. See BONA VACAN-TIA.The title of the Crown was ascertained by inquiry regulated by rules under the (English) Escheat Procedure Act, 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 53), which repealed, as practically inoperative, the numerous statutes from 29 Edw. 1, by which officers called 'escheators' were authorized to hold such inquiries.If differed from a forfeiture [now abolished for treason or felony by the (Engli...


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