A process of lawful seizure by a sovereign or another public body is understood as confiscation . There are two categories of situations concerning the forfeiture: criminal and civil. Around half of all forfeiture cases currently practiced are civil, although others are brought in conjunction with a relevant criminal case.
The features carried by the civil forfeiture are as follows:
- The property content is sued, not person by United States authority and need to establish "preponderance of the evidence".
- The owner of the asset is known as 3rd party claimant, on accomplishment of above point owner may establish defense by using "innocent owner" law.
The criminal confiscation include following points:
- An enforcement against a defendant as part of a criminal case.
- This is an offence in against the person, which demands that the authorities, together with the defendant, prosecute the property in use or obtained from the offense.
- If the judge determines the property forfeitable the court must impose a forfeiture notice.