Forfeiture

Forfeiture. Forfeiture occurred under the feudal system where the tenant committed some act, or omitted some duty in violation of the compact with his lord, such as rendered him unfit to be longer trusted as a vassal. Forfeiture, in modern times, takes place where a tenant grants a larger estate than his own, or where a tenant for life or years assumes to convey the fee simple, or where a lessee commits a breach of any of the covenants in the lease, etc. Also if a copyholder commit waste, or refuses to do suit of court, or a lessee impugns the title of his lessor, the right to take advantage of a forfeiture may be waived by any act of the person entitled which recognises the continuance of the title in the particular tenancy, as, for instance, the receipt of rent by a landlord in respect of a time subsequent to the act of forfeiture. Forfeiture, as between landlord and tenant, has been much restricted, and relief therefrom given by statutes passed during the present reign.