FOR 
572 
without flaying till he is quinto exaSlus, or finally outlawed, 
for the fecreting himfelf "fo long from juftice is conftrued 
a flight in law. 3 /«/?. 7.32. 3. The forfeiture of lands 
has relation to the time of the faff committed, fo as to 
avoid all fubfequent fales and incumbrances ; but the 
forfeiture of goods and chattels has no relation back¬ 
wards, fo that thofe only which a man has at the time of 
conviction fiiall be forfeited. Therefore a traitor or felon 
may bondJide fell any of his chattels real or perfonal for 
the ftiflenance of himfelf or family between the fact and 
conviction. 2 Haaj/i. P. C. c. 49. For perfonal property 
is of fo fluctuating a nature, that it paffes through many 
hands in a (hort time ; and no buyer could be fate if lie 
were liable to return the goods which he had fairly 
bought, provided any of the prior vendors had commit¬ 
ted a treafon or felony. Yet if they be collufively and 
not bond jide parted with, merely to defraud the crown, 
the law, and particularly 13 Eliz. c. 5, will reach them; 
for they are all the while truly and fubftantially the goods 
of the offender; and as he, if acquitted, might recover 
them himfelf, as not parted with fora good confideration, 
fo in cafe he happens to be convicted, the law will reco¬ 
ver them for the king. 4 Comm. 388. 
Land that one hath in trufir, or goods and chattels in 
right of another, or to another’s life, &c. will not be 
liable to forfeiture. Though leafes for years, in a man’s 
own, or his wife’s right, eftates in jointenancy, See. and 
all ftatutes, bonds, and debts due thereby, and upon con¬ 
tracts, fhall be forfeited. Co. Lit. 42. A married man 
guilty of felony, forfeits his wife’s term; and if a wife 
kill her hufband, the hufband's goods are forfeited, Jenk. 
Cent. 65. In manllaughter, the offender forfeits goods and 
chattels; and in chance-medley, and fe defendendo, goods 
and chattels; but the offenders may have their pardon of 
courfe. Co. Lit. 319. 
Thofe that are hanged by martial law in the time of 
war, forfeit no lands. Co. Lit. 13. And for robbery or pi¬ 
racy on the fea, it tried in the court of admiralty, by the 
civil law, and not by jury, there is no forfeiture : but if 
a perfon be attainted before commiflioners by virtue of the 
ftatute 28 Henry VIII. c. 15, there it works a forfeiture. 
In cafes of felony, the profits of lands w hereof a perfon, 
attainted of felony, is feifed of an ertate of inheritance in 
right of his wife ; or of an eftate for life only in his own 
right; are forfeited to the king, and nothing is forfeited 
to the lord. 3 Injl. 19. Goods of perfons that fly for a 
felony, are forfeited to the lord of the franchife, when 
the flight is found of record. 2 Injl. 2S1. In & pramunire, 
lands in fee-fimple are forfeited, with goods and chattels. 
Co. Lit. 129. 
If a woman, after a rape, confent to the raviflier, fhe 
fhall lofe her dower after the death of her hufband. 6 
Rich. II. c. 6 . And if any maiden or woman child above 
twelve, and under fixteen, years of age, fhall agree to be 
taken away and deflowered, or contract with any man for 
marriage againfl the will and without the confent of her 
father; or, if he be dead, heq mother or guardian ap¬ 
pointed by her father’s will, fhe fhall forfeit her land of 
inheritance for her life. 4 and 5 Phil. IS Mary, c. 8. Arti¬ 
ficers going out of the kingdom and teaching their trades 
to foreigners, are liable to forfeit their lands, &c. by 5 
Geo. I. c. 27. In all cafes where a penalty or forfeiture 
is given hy liatute, without frying to whom it fhall be, or 
a limitation fora recompence for the wrong to the party, 
it belongs to the king. Stra. 50, 828. And fuch forfeitures 
fhall be conftrued favourably. Coiop. 585. 
Where goods of a felon are pawned before he is attaint¬ 
ed, the king fhall not have the forfeiture of the goods till, 
the money is paid to him to whom they were pawned. 3 
Injl. 17. After conviction by judgment, or outlawry, for 
high-trealon, See. a commilfion goes to perfons named by 
the king or by the attorney.general, to inquire what lands 
and tenements the offender had at the time of the treafon 
committed, and the value; and that they feize them into 
the king’s hands. And the inquifition taken thereon fhall 
FOR 
be returned to the court of exchequer, and filed in the of¬ 
fice of the king’s remembrancer. Lut. 997. So after con¬ 
viction for felony, a feirefacias fhall go againfl the vill, or 
any other, who has the goods in his cuftody. But if any 
one has title to the goods or lands found by inquifition to 
be the goods or' lands of the offender, he may make his 
claim by pleading his title. 'Fo which the attorney-ge¬ 
neral fhall demur, or reply. 
A copyholder furrenders to the ufc of his will ; the 
devifee is convicted of felony and hanged before admit 
tance, the lands are not forfeited to the lord, but defeend 
to the heir of the furrenderor. 2 Wilf. 13. Forfeiture 
differs from confilcation, in that forfeiture is more gene¬ 
ral ; whereas confifcation is particularly applied to fuch 
as are forfeit to the king’s exchequer, and confifcate goods 
are faid to be fuch as nobody doth claim. Staundf. P. C. 
186. There is a full forfeiture, plenaforisfaHura, other- 
wife called plena zuita, which is a forfeiture of life and 
member, and all that a man hath. Leg. Hen. I. c. 88. And 
there is mention in fome ftatutes of forfeiture at the king’s 
will, of body, lands, and goods, See. 4 Injl. 66.—For par¬ 
ticulars of the forfeitures of horfes, carriages, &c. where 
a perfon is killed, fee the article Deodand, vol.v. p.731. 
Several ftatutes have been from time to time palled, 
appointing commiflioners of forfeited eftates, on rebellions 
in this kingdom and Ireland. Thus by 11 ar.d 12 Will.III. 
c. 3, all lands and tenements, Sec. of perfons attainted or 
convidted of treafon or rebellion in Ireland, were veiled 
in commiflioners and truftees for fale thereof. And by 
feveral ftatutes of Geo. I. commiflioners were appointed 
to inquire of forfeited eftates in England and Scotland, 
on the rebellion at Prefton, Sec. And the eftates of per¬ 
fons attainted of treafon were veiled in his majefty for 
public ufes ; but afterwards in truftees to be fold for the 
ufe of the public ; and it was provided that the purchafers 
ftiould be proleftants. 
Forfeiture of Marriage. A writ which anciently 
lay againfl him who, holding by knight’s.fervice, and 
being under age, and unmarried, refilled her whom the 
lord offered him without his difparagement, and married 
another. F. N.B. 141. 
FOR'FEX, J. in Roman taffies, was a method of 
drawing up an army in the form of a pair of flieers. It 
was intended to receive the caucus or wedge, if the enemy 
fhould make ufe of that figure. When the forfex opened 
to admit the wedge, it gave an opportunity of defeating 
the enemy’s defign, and cutting them in pieces. 
FORFIC'ULA, J. [from forfex , Lat. a pair of pin¬ 
cers.] In entomology, the Earwig; a genus of infedls 
belonging to the order of coleoptera ; the characters of 
which are thefe : antennae fetaceous ; feelers unequal, 
filiform; Ihells half as long as the abdomen; wings 
folded up under the (hells; tail armed with a forceps. 
It is this weapon which gave it the generic name of forfi - 
cula ; and has, in many eyes, rendered its appearance for¬ 
midable ; though in reality the part is too feeble to in- 
flift a pinch, which many dread. The idea alfo of its 
introducing itfelf into the human ear, and of caufing 
great pain, and even death, is equally unfounded, if 
this were among its natural habits, it would alfo infeft the 
ears of brute animals; a Jthing wholly unheard of. No¬ 
thing, in faff, is fo repugnant to its habits as that gluti¬ 
nous matter which the ear fupplies, and which would be 
a great impediment to the- freedom of its motions. In 
the fummer encampments a few years fince, feveral regi¬ 
ments were afligned fome ground on the downs near Win- 
chefter which fwarmed with thefe infedts. During the 
whole feafon only a (ingle inftance occurred of an earwig’s 
getting into the human ear. One foldier met with the 
accident of an earwig’s falling into his ear from the top 
of the tent in which he lay afleep ; but even this occa- 
(ioned him no great inconvenience ; the infedt could 
make but little way, and was at once killed by pouring 
a little oil into the ear, and extradited by fyringing vvit.i 
warm water. 2 
These 
