CONFISCATE

To appropJ.'.iate property to the use of the state. To adjudge property to be forfeited to the public treasury; to seize and condemn private forfeite11 property ta public use. Ware v, Hylton, 3 Dall. 234, 1 L. Ed. 568; E!tate v. Sargent, 12 Mo. App, 234. Formerly, it appears, thi11 term was used aa synonymous with "forfeit," but at pres1mt the distinction between the two terms is well marked. Confiscation supervenes upon forfeiture, The person, by his act, forfeits his property; the state thereupon appropriates it, that is, confiscates it. Hence, to confiscate property ·implies that it has first been forfeited; but to forfeit property does not nece arily imply that it will be conf i seated. "Confiscation" is also to be distinguished from "condemnation" as prize. The former is the act of the sovereign against a rebellious subject; the latter is the act of a. belligerent against another belligerent. Confiscation may be effected by such means, summary or arbitrary, as the sovereign, expre ing its will through lawful channels, may please to adopt. Condemnation as prize can only be made in accordance with principles of iaw recognized in the common juris-:prudence of the world. Both are proceeding■',n rem, but confiscation recognizes the title of the original owner to the property, while in prize the tenure of the property is qualified, provisional, and destitute of absolute ownership. Winchester v. U. S., 14 Ct. Cl. 48. OONFISCATEE, One whose property has been seized and sold under a confl.scatio'D act,.e. g., for unpaid taxes. See Brent v. New Orleans, 41 La. Ann. 1098, 6 South. 798. CONFISCATION, The act of confiscating; or of condemning and adjudging to the public treasury. -Confiscation acts. Certain act■ of con-. gre , enacted during the progre of the civil war (1861 and 18(:i2) in the exercise of the war powers of the government and meant to strengthen its hands and aid in suppre ing the rebellion, which authorized the seizure, condemnation, and forfeiture of "property used for insurrectionary purposes." 12 U. S. St. at Large, 319, 589; Miller v. U. S;: 11 Wall. 268, 20 L. Ed. 135; 'Semmes v. U. ~., 91 U. S. 27, 23 L. Ed. 193.-0onfl.■catio:n. ca■es. The name given to a group of fifteen cases decided by the United States supreme court in 1868, on the.validity and construction of the confiscation acts of congre . Reported in 7 Wall. 454, 19 L. Ed. 196. [s. 250]