Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Confiscation
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Short description|Legal form of seizure by a public authority}} {{For|legal confiscation in the United States|search and seizure}} '''Confiscation''' (from the [[Latin]] ''confiscatio'' "to consign to the ''fiscus'', i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of [[search and seizure|seizure]] by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of [[Tampering with evidence#Spoliation|spoliation]] under legal forms, or of any seizure of property as punishment or in enforcement of the law.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|wstitle=Confiscation|volume=6|page=907|inline=1}}</ref> ==Scope== As a punishment, it differs from a [[Fine (penalty)|fine]] in that it is not primarily meant to match the crime but rather reattributes the criminal's ill-gotten spoils (often as a complement to the actual punishment for the crime itself; still common with various kinds of [[contraband]], such as protected living organisms) to the community or even aims to rob them of their socio-economic status, in the extreme case reducing them to utter poverty, or if he or she is condemned to death even denies them the power to bequeath inheritance to their legal heirs. Meanwhile, limited confiscation is often in function of the crime, the rationale being that the criminal must be denied the fruits of their fault, while the crime itself is rather punished in some other, independent way, such as prison term, [[physical punishment]]s or even a concurring fine. Often, police will [[auction]] items confiscated via [[police auction]] or [[asset forfeiture]] and keep the proceeds. Theoretically, it is possible for owners to buy back confiscated items.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}} In [[airport]]s, potentially dangerous items (such as hazardous chemicals, weapons, and sharp objects) are usually confiscated at inspections. Other items, such as certain food, may also be confiscated, depending on importation laws. Depending on the nature of the items, some may be returned at the end of the flight, while most are discarded or auctioned off. The musical comedian [[Anna Russell]] had an Irish harp confiscated by the [[United States Customs Service|U.S. Customs Service]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tZ5VAAAAIBAJ&pg=4708%2C260163|title=Anna Here, But Without Her Harp}}</ref> == History == === Roman Law === Originally, in Roman law, confiscation was the seizure and transfer of private property to the ''fiscus'' (treasury) by the emperor; hence the appropriation, under legal authority, of private property to the state.<ref name="EB1911" /> === English Law === In modern English law, confiscation embraces [[asset forfeiture|forfeiture]] in the case of goods, and [[escheat]] in the case of lands, for crime or in default of heirs (see also [[Eminent domain]]).<ref name="EB1911" /> Goods may also be confiscated by the state for breaches of statutes relating to customs, excise or explosives.<ref name="EB1911" /> In the [[United Kingdom]] a confiscation order is a court order made under part 2 (England & Wales), part 3 (Scotland) or part 4 (Northern Ireland) of the [[Proceeds of Crime Act 2002]] requiring a convicted defendant to pay a specified sum of money to the state by a specified date. === United States === During the [[American Revolution]], [[customs racketeering]] became a serious problem. By harshly enforcing customs laws, particularly the more obscure regulations, corrupt customs officials could seize property almost with impunity.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XHGAAAAQBAJ&q=%22Customs+racketeering%22&pg=PA56|title=Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician|last=Alexander|first=John K.|date=2004-01-13|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=9781461642787|pages=56|language=en}}</ref> This caused significant conflict between the United States and Great Britain.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KKX8sxOHBugC&q=%22Customs+racketeering%22&pg=PA48|title=Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in Maine|last=Leamon|first=James S.|date=March 1995|publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press|isbn=0870239597|language=en}}</ref> In the United States among the "war measures" during the [[American Civil War]], acts were passed in 1861 and 1862 confiscating, respectively, property used for "insurrectionary purposes" and the property generally of those engaged in rebellion.<ref name="EB1911"/> ==Modern trends== There was from the late 1980s onwards a resurgence of interest in confiscation as [[crime prevention]] tool, which went hand in hand with the interest in the criminalization of [[money laundering]]. A number of international instruments, starting with the 1988 Vienna Convention, have strongly suggested the enactment of legal provisions enabling confiscation of proceeds of crime. The 40 recommendations of the [[Financial Action Task Force]] (FATF) have also stated its importance as a crime prevention tool. A further trend has been the reversal of the burden of proof for the purpose of facilitating confiscation. To the surprise of many, it is actually quite legal for law enforcement agencies to take property from people who haven't been convicted of a crime yet as civil asset forfeiture, a practice which brings in millions of dollars of revenue each year, disproportionately affecting people without means or access to a lawyer.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/11/10/363102433/police-can-seize-and-sell-assets-even-when-the-owner-broke-no-law |title=Police Can Seize And Sell Assets Even When The Owner Broke No Law |author=Laura Sullivan |publisher=NPR |date=November 10, 2014}}</ref> ==See also== * [[Civil forfeiture in the United States]] * [[Government auction]] * [[Individual reclamation]] * [[New Zealand land confiscations]] * [[Prodrazvyorstka]] (1918β1921) under War Communism in Soviet Russia * [[Sentence (law)]] * [[Sequestration (law)]] * [[Spanish confiscation]] ==References== {{Reflist}} == External links== {{Wiktionary}} * [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts2006/pdf/ukpga_20060040_en.pdf UK Education and Inspection Act 2006 - Section 94, Confiscation from pupils] {{Authority control}} [[Category:Punishments]] [[Category:Crime]] [[Category:Asset forfeiture]]
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page
(
help
)
:
Template:Authority control
(
edit
)
Template:Citation needed
(
edit
)
Template:Cite book
(
edit
)
Template:Cite web
(
edit
)
Template:EB1911
(
edit
)
Template:For
(
edit
)
Template:Reflist
(
edit
)
Template:Short description
(
edit
)
Template:Sister project
(
edit
)
Template:Wiktionary
(
edit
)