Commonwealth v. Mathis

Hirt, J.,

A forfeiture under criminal proceedings, in strictness, is not a fine or a penalty, but rather a term expressing the result which flows from a failure to comply with the law, and a statute creating a forfeiture is constitutional, though consisting in deprivation of property without due process of law, when such forfeiture fairly tends and is reasonably necessary to accomplish legitimate purpose under the police power: 25 Corpus Juris, 1172. The proceedings on a forfeiture are usually in rem, and by the terms of the act of assembly in question (Act of March 27, 1923, P. L. 34) it is…