IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania :

: No. 448 C.D. 2015

v. :

: Argued: February 10, 2016

Justen Irland; Smith and Wesson :

9MM Semi-Automatic Pistol, :

Serial #PDW0493 :

:

Appeal of: Justen Irland :

BEFORE: HONORABLE MARY HANNAH LEAVITT, President Judge

HONORABLE RENÉE COHN JUBELIRER, Judge 

HONORABLE ROBERT SIMPSON, Judge

HONORABLE P. KEVIN BROBSON, Judge

HONORABLE PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, Judge

HONORABLE ANNE E. COVEY, Judge

HONORABLE MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge

OPINION BY

JUDGE McCULLOUGH FILED: January 13, 2017

The dispositive question presented on appeal is whether the doctrine of 

common law forfeiture exists in Pennsylvania and can serve as a legal basis to allow 

the Commonwealth to forfeit any property with a “nexus” to a crime absent any 

statutory authority to do so. We conclude that common law forfeiture, as that concept 

originated and developed in England, was never incorporated into or became part of 

our Commonwealth’s common law tradition. Based upon our research, the 

Commonwealth’s organic law, namely Article 9, Sections 18 and 19 of the 
2

Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790,

1

denounces and effectively abolishes any notion 

of common law forfeiture and that the predominate, if not unanimous, weight of the 

authority has determined that common law forfeiture never made it across the seas to 

America. Therefore, absent a statute that specifically authorizes the forfeiture of 

property, the Commonwealth and the courts have no authority to seek and order 

forfeiture of so-called derivative contraband. 

Justen Irland appeals from the March 9, 2015 order of the Court of 

Common Pleas of Adams County (trial court) granting the Commonwealth’s motion 

for forfeiture and destruction of property and denying Irland’s motion for return of 

property. Because the Commonwealth sought forfeiture based on a common law 

theory, and there was no statute that explicitly authorized the forfeiture, we reverse. 

I. Background

The facts here are not in dispute. On August 25, 2014, Irland entered a 

guilty plea to the summary offense of disorderly conduct, see section 5503(a)(4) of 

the Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. §5503(a)(4), for an incident on November 7, 2013, when

Irland was driving on a road in Adams County and a driver behind him was tailgating 

his car. In response, Irland displayed his handgun to the driver through the rear 

 

1 Article 9, Section 18 provides: “That no person shall be attainted of treason or felony by 

the Legislature.” Pa. Const. art. IX, §18. This same language has remained and continues to remain 

in the Pennsylvania Constitution. 

In 1790, Article 9, Section 19 stated: “That no attainder shall work corruption of blood, nor, 

except during the life of the offender, forfeiture of estate to the Commonwealth. The estate of such 

persons as shall destroy their own lives shall descend or vest as in cases of natural death, and if any 

person shall be killed by casualty there shall be no forfeiture by reason thereof.” Former Pa. Const. 

art. IX, §19, as amended. In 1967, Article 9, Section 19 was amended to delete the second 

sentence. 
3

windshield of his vehicle, in an apparent attempt to induce the driver behind him to 

increase the distance between the two vehicles. Someone contacted the authorities, 

and the local police detained Irland and confiscated the handgun. The 

Commonwealth charged Irland with simple assault, harassment, disorderly conduct as 

a third degree misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct as a summary offense. 

Following his guilty plea to disorderly conduct as a summary offense, the trial court 

ordered Irland to pay a $200.00 fine. 

On December 10, 2014, Irland filed a motion for return of the handgun. 

On February 4, 2015, the Commonwealth filed a motion for forfeiture and destruction 

of the handgun based on a theory of common law forfeiture. On March 9, 2015, the 

trial court denied Irland’s motion for return of property and ordered that the handgun 

be destroyed. Irland then filed a timely notice of appeal.

On April 2, 2015, the trial court directed Irland to file a concise 

statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b), which 

Irland did on April 15, 2015. In his statement, Irland contended that there was no 

such thing as common law forfeiture in Pennsylvania and that his property could only 

be forfeited pursuant to a statute. Irland also asserted, in the alternative, that the 

legislature enacted a comprehensive scheme of statutory forfeiture which displaced

and superseded common law forfeiture. 

On May 7, 2015, the trial court filed an opinion in support of its March 

9, 2015 order pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a). Citing this Court’s decision in 

Commonwealth v. One 2001 Toyota Camry, 894 A.2d 207 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2006) (en 

banc), as well as the Superior Court’s decisions in Commonwealth v. Salamone, 897 

A.2d 1209 (Pa. Super. 2006), and Commonwealth v. Crosby, 568 A.2d 233 (Pa. 

Super. 1990), the trial court determined that “there is no doubt that Pennsylvania 
4

appellate courts currently recognize the existence of common law forfeiture.” (Trial 

court op. at 3.) The trial court noted that it was not within that court’s province “to 

forge new legal ground, but simply to apply the law as it has been interpreted by the 

higher courts.” Id. The trial court also concluded that for purposes of common law 

forfeiture, there was no qualitative difference between a felony conviction and a 

summary offense conviction, and found that the Commonwealth established a 

substantial nexus between the crime committed and the object to be forfeited. Id. at 

3-4. 

In addition, the trial court determined that the Controlled Substances 

Forfeiture Act (Drug Forfeiture Act), 42 Pa.C.S. §§6801-6802, was not a 

comprehensive legislative scheme and does not prohibit common law forfeiture. The 

trial court noted that there were other Pennsylvania statutes that permitted forfeiture 

and determined that the Forfeiture Act is not the exclusive authority for forfeiture 

actions. For these reasons, the trial court concluded that common law forfeiture has 

not been superseded by a pervasive statutory regime. 

Irland then filed a timely appeal to this Court.2

II. Discussion

In the statement of questions portion of his appellate brief, Irland asks: 

“Did the [trial] court commit an error of law in recognizing the existence of a socalled ‘common law forfeiture’ power that permits the Commonwealth to seize any 

 

2

“The grant or denial of a forfeiture petition rests within the sound discretion of the trial 

court. In an appeal from a forfeiture proceeding, this Court’s review is limited to determining 

whether the findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence, and whether the trial court 

committed an error of law or abused its discretion.” Commonwealth v. 2010 Buick Enclave, 99 

A.3d 163, 165 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014).
5

property with a ‘nexus’ to a crime, where no such statutory authority otherwise 

exists?” (Brief for Irland at 4.) In the argument portion of his brief, Irland’s 

contentions, distilled to their essence, advance a relatively straightforward proposal: 

the proposition that common law forfeiture exists in Pennsylvania is based on a 

misinterpretation of statutory forfeiture authority. Irland contends that even if 

government authority once existed to seize property linked to a crime, it has been 

superseded by comprehensive statutory authority defining the limits of forfeiture. He 

argues that these statutes would be superfluous if the General Assembly intended to 

retain common law notions of forfeiture. 

Although this Court does not in any way condone Irland’s behavior, 

upon our review, we find Irland’s contentions meritorious as a matter of law. 

At the outset, this Court notes that decisional law recognizes two types 

of contraband: contraband per se and derivative contraband.

Contraband per se is property the mere possession of which 

is unlawful . . . . Heroin and ‘moonshine’ whiskey are 

examples of contraband per se. Derivative contraband is 

property innocent by itself, but used in the perpetration of 

an unlawful act. An example of derivative contraband is a 

truck used to transport illicit goods.

Commonwealth v. Howard, 713 A.2d 89, 92 (Pa. 1998). Further, “[p]roperty is not 

derivative contraband merely because it is owned or used by someone who has been 

engaged in criminal conduct. Rather, the Commonwealth must establish a specific 

nexus between the property and the alleged criminal activity.” Howard, 713 A.2d at 

92. 

In this case, there is nothing illegal about Irland’s possession of a 

handgun. In re Firearms, Eleven, 922 A.2d 906, 910 (Pa. Super. 2007). The 

handgun, or property, was used in perpetration of the summary offense of disorderly 
6

conduct. Therefore, this case concerns the issue of whether the property is derivative 

contraband. See id. at 910-11. Our following discussion regarding common law 

forfeiture is strictly limited to those instances where, in the absence of a statute, the 

derivative contraband is the item that is sought to be forfeited.

A. Common Law Forfeiture

In 1776, forfeiture existed in England both at common law and by 

statute. Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602, 611 (1993). Specifically, there were 

three kinds of forfeiture: (1) deodand, (2) forfeiture upon conviction for a felony or 

treason, and (3) statutory forfeiture. Id. 

Deodand

“At common law the value of an inanimate object directly or indirectly 

causing the accidental death of a King’s subject was forfeited to the Crown as a 

deodand. The origins of the deodand are traceable to Biblical and pre-JudeoChristian practices, which reflected the view that the instrument of death was accused 

and that religious expiation was required.” Austin, 509 U.S. at 611 (citations and 

internal quotation marks omitted). “This forfeiture proceeding was In rem in nature 

with the property itself considered [to be] the offender: It is the property to a legal 

fiction, held guilty and condemned to a legal fiction, held guilty and condemned as 

though it was conscious instead of inanimate and insentient.” Commonwealth v. 2010 

Buick Enclave, 99 A.3d 163, 166-67 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014) (quoting Various Items of 

Personal Property v. United States, 282 U.S. 577, 581 (1931)). 

However, as this Court has recognized, “[d]eodand was never embraced 

in American common law.” 2010 Buick Enclave, 99 A.3d at 167 (citing Calero-
7

Toledo v. Pearson Yacht Leasing Co., 416 U.S. 663, 682 (1974)). In Calero-Toledo, 

the United States Supreme Court determined whether a forfeiture statute passed 

constitutional muster. In doing so, the United States Supreme Court traced the 

history of common law forfeiture and cited Parker-Harris Co. v. Tate, 188 S.W. 54

(Tenn. 1916), wherein the Supreme Court of Tennessee observed: 

The doctrine [of deodand], after being subtly refined and 

pared down, was discarded in England by Stat. 9 and 10, 

Victoria, c. 62. To the credit of American jurisprudence, 

from the outset the doctrine was deemed to be so repugnant 

to our ideas of justice as not to be included as a part of the 

common law of this country. 

Parker-Harris Co., 188 S.W. at 55. Based on this authority, the United States 

Supreme Court declared that “[d]eodands did not become part of the common-law 

tradition of this country.” Calero-Toledo, 416 U.S. at 682. 

Nonetheless, scholars have noted that, in theory, deodand has similarities 

to modern-day statutory forfeiture because they both focus on forfeiting an object or 

thing that is used in connection with a crime. George M. Dery III, Adding Injury to 

Insult: The Supreme Court’s Extension of Civil Forfeiture to Its Illogical Extreme in 

Bennis v. Michigan, 48 S.C. L. REV. 359, 364 (1997) (“Deodand’s ‘guilty property’ 

theme, however, survives in today’s forfeiture statutes.”); Scott A. Nelson, Comment, 

The Supreme Court Takes a Weapon from the Drug War Arsenal: New Defenses to 

Civil Drug Forfeiture, 26 ST. MARY’S L.J. 157, 164-65 (1994). The United States 

Supreme Court itself has made the connection between this ancient form of forfeiture 

and current legislation: “The modern forfeiture statutes are the direct descendants of 

this (English deodand) heritage.” United States v. United States Coin & Currency, 

401 U.S. 715, 720 (1971). Regardless, as previously explained, the concept of 

deodand never took hold in colonial America or elsewhere in this country. 
8

Conviction of Felony or Treason

“The second kind of common-law forfeiture fell only upon those 

convicted of a felony or of treason. The convicted felon forfeited his chattels to the 

Crown and his lands escheated to his lord; the convicted traitor forfeited all of his 

property, real and personal, to the Crown.” Austin, 509 U.S. at 611-12 (citations and 

internal quotation marks omitted). “Such forfeitures were known as forfeitures of 

estate. These forfeitures obviously served to punish felons and traitors and were 

justified on the ground that property was a right derived from society which one lost 

by violating society’s laws.” Id. (citations omitted). Upon conviction of a felony or 

treason, the offender was considered to have suffered a “legal death,” also known as 

“attainder,” which has been defined as “the act of extinguishing a person’s civil 

rights[.]” Black’s Law Dictionary, 146 (9th Ed. 2009). The commission of the 

felony also resulted in “corruption of the blood,” which has been described as “[a] 

defunct doctrine, now considered unconstitutional, under which a person loses the 

ability to inherit or pass property as a result of an attainder or being declared civilly 

dead.” Id. at 397. See Robert Lieske, Civil Forfeiture Law: Replacing the Common 

Law with a Common Sense Application of the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth 

Amendment, 21 WILLIAM MITCHELL L. REV. 265, 272 (1995).

At English common law, the crimes of felony and treason – or what we 

would simply call today “felony offenses” – were defined as such solely because the 

punishment imposed upon conviction was forfeiture of the individual’s property and 

estate. 4 William Blackstone, COMMENTARIES ON THE LAWS OF ENGLAND 94 (1766) 

(“Felony, in the general acceptation of our English law, comprises every species of 
9

crime, which occasioned at common law the forfeiture of lands or goods.”); see 

Lynch v. Commonwealth, 88 Pa. 189 (1879). Our Supreme Court has recognized this 

principle in confirming that the distinction between a felony and a misdemeanor is 

illusory because, unlike the English common law, an individual does not 

automatically forfeit his property and estate following a felony conviction. 88 Pa. at 

192-93. As our Supreme Court stated: 

The fact that larceny is called a felony is of no importance. 

Felony, as a term, is incapable of any definition, and is 

descriptive of no offence. . . . [I]t now imports an offence 

which occasions a total forfeiture of either lands or goods, 

or both, at common law, and to which capital or other 

punishment may be superadded, according to the degree of 

guilt. And even this forfeiture was abolished by the 

Constitution of this state, of 1790, except during the life of 

the offender: art. 9, §19. It is, therefore, well said . . . that 

the term felony has become useless and unintelligible, for it 

seems to mean something, when in truth it conveys no 

distinct ideas. 

Id. 

Generally, “[f]orfeiture of a felon’s property was also rejected in this 

country” and most states have explicitly done so “through their constitutions or 

general statutes.” Scott A. Hauert, An Examination of the Nature, Scope, and Extent 

of Statutory Civil Forfeiture, 20 U. DAYTON L. REV. 159, 167-68 & nn. 64, 72-74

(1994). See Pa. Const. art. 1, §18; Terrance G. Reed & Joseph P. Gill, RICO 

Forfeitures, Forfeitable “Interests,” and Procedural Due Process, 62 N.C.L. REV. 

57, 61 (1983). For example, in Farley v. $168,400.97, 259 A.2d 201 (N.J. 1969), the 

Supreme Court of New Jersey proclaimed: “The doctrine of forfeiture upon 

conviction of treason or felony of course never obtained in our State, N.J.S.A.

2A:152-2, or elsewhere in this country.” Farley, 259 A.2d at 204. 
10

Statutory Forfeiture

Third, and finally, “English Law provided for statutory forfeitures of 

offending objects used in violation of the customs and revenue laws. The most 

notable of these were the Navigation Acts of 1660 that required the shipping of most 

commodities in English vessels. Violations of the Acts resulted in the forfeiture of 

the illegally carried goods as well as the ship that transported them.” Austin, 509 

U.S. at 612. “Statutory civil forfeiture, as the name suggests, arises by acts of 

legislatures, state or federal, which ascribe certain criminal character to property, not 

persons, and provide for their forfeiture to the government.” 2010 Buick Enclave, 99 

A.3d at 165-66. 

In colonial Pennsylvania, while still a subject of England, and as a result 

of pressure from the Crown, our General Assembly codified the law of England in the 

Act of 1718. 

It is well known that William Penn was opposed to the 

infliction of capital punishment except in the single instance 

of wilful murder, and beginning with temporary laws, he 

endeavored to reduce the punishment of all other offences, 

capital by the laws of England, to lower grades. His efforts 

were fruitless, however, for when these laws were enacted 

permanently, they were repealed by the queen in council. 

This led, as the preamble to the [Act of 1718] clearly 

indicates, to its passage. It not only enacted capital 

punishment for a number of offences, but declared in the 

6th section that “when any persons shall be so as aforesaid 

convicted or attainted of any of the aforesaid crimes, they 

shall suffer as the laws of Great Britain now do, or hereafter 

shall, direct and require in such cases respectively.”

Lynch v. Commonwealth, 88 Pa. 189, 191 (Pa. 1879) (citation omitted). 
11

While the Act of 1718 may have been the earliest form of a forfeiture 

statute in Pennsylvania, by 1791 statutory forfeiture took a more remedial – rather 

than punitive – appearance. More specifically, in cases concerning convictions for 

robbery and burglary, statutory law only permitted forfeiture of personal property as a 

secondary measure and only to the extent that the offender could not return the stolen 

goods to the victim. Act of September 23, 1791, §9.3 As one commentator 

elucidated:

Although the colonies generally appear to have adopted 

most of the English criminal law either implicitly or 

through legislation, certain colonies instituted statutory 

reforms designed to soften the punitive effect of the 

traditional English rules relating to criminal forfeiture. 

These reforms, however, were ordinarily directed at 

mitigating the extent of criminal forfeiture and the offenses 

for which it was a penalty . . . . 

The New England colonies were the most active in their 

attempts to modify the English common law by statute . . . .

It was against the background of this colonial experience 

that our Constitution was drafted. The Framers were 

 

3

This statute provided:

Wherever any person or persons shall be convicted of robbery or 

burglary such person or persons shall be ordered to restore to the 

lawful owner or owners the goods and chattels so stolen or to pay to 

him her or them the full value thereof or of so much thereof as shall 

not be restored and the forfeiture of his her or their lands and chattels 

shall only extend to the residue thereof after such restitution made as 

aforesaid and the owner or owners of goods and chattels stolen as 

aforesaid shall have like remedy for restitution by executions issued 

by the court in which the attainders shall be had as is provided by an 

act of Assembly in the case of conviction of larceny[.] 

Act of September 23, 1791, §9.
12

understandably bothered by the harshness of the English 

system of criminal penalties, especially the impact on 

innocent heirs of the corruption of the blood. They 

provided in the Constitution that conviction for treason may 

not result in forfeiture of property or corruption of the blood 

except during the lifetime of the offender. The First 

Congress followed suit shortly thereafter by banning 

forfeiture and corruption of the blood altogether as penalties 

for federal crimes . . . .

[U]nlike common law attainder, modern statutory criminal 

forfeiture generally does not reach all of the defendant’s 

property. Instead, the court’s forfeiture authority is 

ordinarily limited to certain specified categories of property 

that bear some connection to the offense.

Richard E. Finneran & Steven K. Luther, Criminal Forfeiture and the Sixth 

Amendment: The Role of the Jury at Common Law, 35 CARDOZO L. REV. 1, 33-47

(2013).

Current “[e]xamples of statutory forfeiture laws in the Commonwealth 

include the [Drug Forfeiture Act]; Section 7.1 of what is commonly referred to as the 

Fireworks Law,[4]35 P.S. §1278; and Section 601 of the Liquor Code, 47 P.S. §6-

601.” 2010 Buick Enclave, 99 A.3d at 165-66. In general, this legislation authorizes 

the forfeiture of items or property that have a substantial nexus with conduct 

constituting a violation of the relevant statutes. 

Against this background, it should not be surprising that it is a 

commonly accepted and wide-spread view that “[s]tatutory civil forfeiture is the only 

type of forfeiture adopted in this country.” Hauert, supra at 167-68; accord, e.g.,

Susanne H. Bales, Note, Constitutional Law—Fifth Amendment Right to Due 

Process—Civil Forfeiture Defendants and Constitutional Protection, 62 TENN. L.

 

4 Act of May 15, 1939, P.L. 134, added by the Act of November 30, 2004, P.L. 1598, as 

amended, 35 P.S. §1278.
13

REV. 331, 336 (1995). At both the federal and state level, the case law throughout the 

American jurisdictions has so held. See, e.g., United States v. Farrell, 606 F.2d 1341, 

1350 (D.C. Cir. 1979); United States v. Lane Motor Co., 199 F.2d 495, 496 (10th Cir. 

1952), aff’d, 344 U.S. 630 (1953); United States v. Charles D. Kaier Co., 61 F.2d 

160, 162 (3d Cir. 1932); Ghisolfo v. United States, 14 F.2d 389, 390 (9th Cir. 1926) 

(“These decisions show very clearly that the power to condemn or declare a forfeiture 

must be found in the statute”); United States v. Brant, 684 F.Supp. 421, 424 (M.D. 

N.C. 1988); Davis v. Fowler, 504 F. Supp. 502, 505 (D. Md. 1980); United States v. 

Two Hundred and Sixty-Seven Twenty-Dollar Gold Pieces, 255 F. 217, 220 (W.D. 

Wash. 1919); Prudential Ins. Co. v. Rice, 52 N.E.2d 624, 624 (Ind. 1944); Utah 

Liquor Control Commission v. Wooras, 93 P.2d 455, 461 (Utah 1939); State v. 

Alaway, 828 P.2d 591, 593 (Wash. Ct. App. 1992); State v. Anonymous, 406 A.2d 6, 

8 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1979); State v. One 1960 Mercury Station Wagon, 240 A.2d 99, 

104 (Conn. Cir. Ct. 1968); People ex rel. Mosk v. Barenfeld, 203 Cal. App.2d 166, 

177 (Cal. Ct. App., 2nd Dist., 1962) (“[T]he courts have no power to create and 

enforce a forfeiture where there is no underlying legislative authorization.”). 

For instance, in Lane Motor Co., the United States sought forfeiture of 

automobiles allegedly used to transport illegal liquors. The United States Court of 

Appeals for the Tenth Circuit observed that “[p]roceedings of this kind instituted by 

the United States for the forfeiture of property are essentially statutory proceedings, 

and they cannot be maintained unless authorized by an applicable statute.” 199 F.2d 

at 496. Because the plain language of the statute at issue did not authorize the 

forfeiture of the automobiles under the circumstances of the case, the court 

determined that “forfeiture is not warranted.” Id. at 497. 
14

In One 1960 Mercury Station Wagon, the State of Connecticut, pursuant 

to statutory authority, sought forfeiture of an automobile that was used as an 

instrumentality in the commission of the crime of policy playing. In assessing the 

applicability of the forfeiture statute, the Circuit Court of Connecticut pronounced: 

“Courts have always declared that the power to declare any forfeiture is solely 

statutory.” 240 A.2d at 104. Ultimately, the court determined that forfeiture was 

permissible under the statute because the State complied with the pertinent statutory 

procedures; the statute authorized the forfeiture of seized property that is considered 

to be a nuisance; and the State proved that the automobile was used in violation of the 

criminal laws of Connecticut. 

In Austin, the United States Supreme Court determined whether the 

forfeiture of property pursuant to a statute could be challenged under the Excessive 

Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment.5 In engaging in background commentary on 

the history of common law forfeiture, the United States Supreme Court said: “Of 

England’s three kinds of forfeiture, only the third [i.e., statutory forfeiture] took hold 

in the United States.” 509 U.S. at 613.

The above collage of case law establishes that there is a significant 

amount of authority to support the notion that forfeiture exists in America only to the 

extent that it is expressly authorized by statute. 

B. Pennsylvania Case Law

Here, it is undisputed that there was no statute authorizing the forfeiture 

of Irland’s handgun. Because deodand never became a part of American or this 

Commonwealth’s common law, Calero-Toledo, 416 U.S. at 682; 2010 Buick 

 

5 U.S. Const. amend. VIII.
15

Enclave, 99 A.3d at 167, the only potential basis for common law forfeiture would be 

conviction of a felony, treason, or, quite possibly, some other crime. In this regard, 

the Pennsylvania case law experience is somewhat unique and marked with conflict.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Superior Court and a trial court held that 

there is no common law forfeiture based upon a criminal conviction and that 

forfeiture must be warranted expressly by statute. In Commonwealth v. Schilbe, 175 

A.2d 539 (Pa. Super. 1961), the police confiscated a camera and accessories which 

the defendant used to take obscene pictures of women. The Commonwealth filed a 

petition seeking forfeiture of the photographic equipment and the pictures. The trial 

court concluded that “in the absence of any statute providing for the forfeiture of a 

camera and its accessories used for the purpose of taking obscene pictures, there is no 

authority to do so.” Commonwealth v. Schilbe, 25 Pa. D. & C.2d 326, 330 (Berks 

1961). On appeal, a unanimous panel consisting of six judges of the Superior Court 

agreed, adopting the trial court’s opinion and rationale as its own. Schilbe, 175 A.2d 

at 539-42 (adopting and reproducing the trial court’s opinion).

In Commonwealth v. Spisak, 69 D. & C.2d 659 (Somerset 1974), the 

police arrested a defendant for carrying a pistol without a license and seized the 

pistol. After the defendant pled guilty to carrying a firearm without a permit, the 

Commonwealth filed a petition to forfeit the pistol. Before the trial court, the 

Commonwealth conceded that there was no specific statutory or case law authority in 

Pennsylvania that would permit forfeiture of the pistol and requested the trial court to 

exercise the common law power to order forfeiture. 

After citing the holding in Schilbe, the trial court expounded upon that 

decision, discussing federal case law and secondary sources such as Corpus Juris 
16

Secundum and American Jurisprudence, all of which supported the view that 

forfeiture was purely a statutory matter:

Nor can we resort to the common law for a judicial 

forfeiture power . . . .

In 36 Am. Jur. 2d, Forfeitures and Penalties, §15, it is 

concluded that:

“The forfeiture and disabilities imposed by the early 

common law on persons attainted by felony are unknown to 

the laws of this country, and no consequences follow 

conviction and sentence except such as are declared by law. 

The ancient common-law doctrine of deodand has likewise 

been rejected in the United States.” . . . . 

In 37 C.J.S., Forfeitures, §5a it is asserted:

“Since forfeitures are not favored, . . . they will not be given 

effect to, except by the express terms of a statute, and where 

the facts which purport to require such action come clearly 

and plainly within the provisions of the law.”

In King v. United States, 364 F.2d 235 (5th Cir. 1966), the 

Federal government sought forfeiture of the weapons used 

in the assassination of President Kennedy and the killing of 

police officer Tippit while engaged in search for the 

assassin. The court said, p. 235:

“It would certainly be convenient and it would tend to 

hasten the termination of what must appear to many to be a 

very distressful bit of litigation were we able to accept the 

government’s present theory and affirm the trial court’s 

judgment forfeiting the weapons to the United States as a 

species of Deodands.”

The court [in King] then went on to deny the forfeiture for 

failure to show a violation of the forfeiture statute.

Following that decision, the government appropriated the 

same Kennedy-Tippit guns pursuant to a statute authorizing 
17

acquisition for preservation of historical items, and the 

owners sought compensation from the United States: King 

v. United States, 292 F. Supp. 767 (D. Colo. 1968). In the 

course of that opinion the court said, p. 771:

“Under the peculiar facts of this case, one would suppose 

that under some principle of common law or at least natural 

law or natural justice, weapons used in the commission of a 

crime of this magnitude would be subject to forfeiture by 

the proper authorities and, certainly, that property of this 

character would not be subject to commercial traffic. It is, 

therefore, somewhat astonishing to discover that there is not 

any such principle and that forfeiture is a matter of statutory 

regulation.”

Spisak, 69 D. & C.2d at 665-66.

Accordingly, the trial court in Spisak held that “[t]he power of 

government to deprive the citizen of his property by forfeiture must rest on statute, 

and cannot be found in any supposed inherent or common law judicial power.” Id. at 

666. 

In the 1980s, however, three-judge panels of the Superior Court issued 

three major decisions, Petition of Maglisco, 491 A.2d 1381 (Pa. Super. 1985), Estate 

of Peetros v. County Detectives, 492 A.2d 6 (Pa. Super. 1985), and Commonwealth v. 

Coghe, 439 A.2d 823 (Pa. Super. 1982). 

In Estate of Peetros, the Commonwealth sought the forfeiture of books 

seized in connection with the investigation of a homicide. The Commonwealth 

contended that the books were records of illegal loan-sharking operations and were 

therefore contraband subject to forfeiture. On appeal, the Superior Court cited former 

Pa.R.Crim.P. 324, and, in a brief statement, concluded that the books were 

forfeitable: “By definition, derivative contraband is property which may be used in a 

lawful manner. Yet it is still subject to forfeiture under the law because of its prior 

connection with criminal activity.” 492 A.2d at 10. 
18

In Coghe, the Superior Court cited a forfeiture statute and 

Commonwealth v. Landy, 362 A.2d 999 (Pa. Super. 1976), and concluded: 

In the instant case the $1,000 in United States currency that 

the appellant paid to the person who he had hired to murder 

his wife is an example of derivative contraband in that the 

money itself is obviously not inherently illegal but, just as 

obviously, it was used in the perpetration of an unlawful 

act, namely; criminal solicitation to commit murder. Thus, 

we find that the lower court correctly granted the 

Commonwealth’s petition and we deny the appellant’s 

outrageous attempts to have the ‘blood money’ returned to 

him. 

439 A.2d at 824.

In Petition of Maglisco, a wife shot her husband in the leg with a .38 

caliber pistol. Upon responding to the residence, the police seized the pistol and the

Commonwealth sought forfeiture of the pistol. The Superior Court recognized its 

prior holding in Schilbe, noted that “[t]here is no specific statutory provision which 

would support the instant forfeiture,” but nevertheless held that there is a “common 

law forfeiture of derivative contraband.” 491 A.2d at 1382-83. The Superior Court 

ultimately upheld the forfeiture of the pistol, concluding that a crime was committed 

with the pistol and that the pistol, therefore, was derivative contraband. Id. at 1384. 

In so holding, the Superior Court stated that “[b]oth Landy [and] Coghe affirmed the 

forfeiture of items involved in the perpetration of a crime without any statutory 

authority for that forfeiture, thus implying, contrary to Schilbe, that ‘contraband,’ 

whether per se or derivative, is forfeitable without statutory authority.” Id. at 1383.

These three decisions from the Superior Court have routinely been cited 

by the courts of this Commonwealth as endorsing the premise that common law 

forfeiture is a viable means of forfeiture in Pennsylvania. See, e.g., One 2001 Toyota 

Camry, 894 A.2d at 210; Crosby, 568 A.2d at 237-38. However, Maglisco, Estate of 
19

Peetros, and Coghe have been severely criticized by a subsequent three-judge panel 

of the Superior Court.

In Crosby, the Superior Court noted conflicts in its own precedent 

regarding whether derivative contraband can be forfeited as a matter of common law 

upon the criminal conviction of its owner. Id. at 239-40. Writing for the majority, 

Judge Rowley astutely observed:

Until the early 1980s, forfeiture cases in Pennsylvania 

involved statutes which authorized the forfeiture. . . . 

Despite [the] indicia that the law in Pennsylvania required 

statutory authority before derivative contraband could be 

forfeited, since 1982 there has been a series of opinions by 

the Superior Court which have held that there was common 

law authority for ordering forfeiture of derivative 

contraband. Significantly, however, the authorities cited 

in these opinions to support this proposition were cases 

in which there had been statutory authority for the 

forfeiture.

For example, in [Coghe], wherein the court upheld an order 

directing the forfeiture of the defendant’s $1,000 down 

payment on a contract to have his wife killed, the only 

authority cited by the Court for its proposition that 

“property which is contraband may be forfeited to the

Commonwealth,” was the criminal statute expressly 

providing for forfeiture of certain items involved in drug 

offenses, 35 P.S. §780-128[6]. . . . 

Thereafter, in two decisions filed the same day, the Superior 

Court again found that forfeiture was authorized in the 

absence of any statutory authority. . . . Yet in Petition of 

Maglisco, the only Pennsylvania authorities cited to support 

the finding of common law forfeiture of derivative 

 

6

Section 28 of the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act, Act of April 14, 

1972, P.L. 233, as amended, 35 P.S. §780-128, repealed by the Act of June 30, 1988, P.L. 464. The 

forfeiture provision is now located at section 6801 of the Drug Forfeiture Act, 42 Pa.C.S. §6801. 
20

contraband were [Landy], and Coghe, both of which 

themselves rely on authority requiring statutory 

authorization for derivative contraband to be 

forfeitable.

In Estate of Peetros, the only authority cited to support the 

conclusion that derivative contraband is subject to forfeiture 

is Pa.R.Crim.P. 324 [now Pa.R.Crim.P. 588] which 

provides that when considering a petition for the return of 

seized property, the court may order forfeiture if it 

determines that the property is contraband. However, 

because the statute authorizing the Supreme Court to 

promulgate the Rules of Criminal Procedure expressly 

provides that the Court is not empowered to “abridge, 

enlarge nor modify the substantive rights of any litigant,” 

42 Pa.C.S. §1722(a)(1), unless there is some independent 

authority for a court to order forfeiture, Rule 324 

should not be interpreted as authorizing the forfeiture 

because such a forfeiture would affect the substantive 

rights of the parties to the property being forfeited.

Crosby, 568 A.2d at 237-38 (bold emphasis supplied).

Despite its apparent reluctance, the Crosby panel majority felt bound to 

follow Maglisco, Estate of Peetros, and Coghe:

While this brief review of the highlights of the law of 

forfeiture of derivative contraband suggests that there may 

be no convincing authority to support the conclusions in 

Coghe, Maglisco, and Peetros that there can be ‘common 

law’ forfeiture of derivative contraband in the absence of 

express statutory authority, we, as a three-judge panel of 

this Court, are bound to follow these three precedents 

regardless of the soundness of their logical 

underpinnings . . . . 

Crosby, 568 A.2d at 238.

In a dissenting opinion in Crosby, Judge Brosky expressed his concern 

that the court was choosing amongst irreconcilable precedent and argued that the case 
21

should be decided by the court sitting en banc. Reiterating the previous panel 

decision in Schilbe, Judge Brosky opined: 

[U]nder the present circumstances, the majority’s loyalty to 

prior precedent takes on an appearance of selective, and 

perhaps even expedient, application of stare decisis rather 

than some sort of faithful and principled adherence to 

it. . . . [I]n light of the conflict of authority and the 

majority’s own expressed reservations on the logical and 

legal underpinnings of the cases authorizing forfeiture 

under the present circumstances, it is indeed rather dubious 

to suggest that stare decisis requires homage be paid to the 

suspect authority. It seems that the present circumstances 

present one of the rare situations when departure from the 

principle is not only allowable but, perhaps, advisable or 

necessary; particularly when the weight of the authority, as 

the majority seems to concede, contrasts with the authority 

the court feels compelled to follow.

Crosby, 568 A.2d at 242 (Brosky, J., dissenting). 

In rebuttal, the Crosby majority stated that Coghe, Maglisco, and Estate 

of Peetros “are as much a part of the developing common law in Pennsylvania as is 

Schilbe” and “it appears to us that these more recent cases evidence a changing 

pattern in the law affecting common law forfeiture which must be acknowledged.” 

Crosby, 568 A.2d at 238 n.1. 

In Salamone, another three-judge panel of the Superior Court tried to 

resurrect the doctrine of common law forfeiture as recognized by the majority in 

Crosby. In doing so, the Salamone court relied on our Supreme Court’s decision in 

Commonwealth v. One (1) 1984 Z-28 Camaro Coupe, 610 A.2d 36 (Pa. 1992), which 

held that Article 1, Section 6 of the Pennsylvania Constitution7vests an individual 

with the right to a jury trial in a statutory forfeiture proceeding under the Forfeiture

 

7

Pa. Const. art. 1, §6. 
22

Act. In developing the test for determining whether a jury trial was warranted, the 

Supreme Court ascertained whether there was a “common law basis” for forfeiture 

when our Constitution was adopted in 1790. Significantly, the Supreme Court in One 

(1) 1984 Z-28 Camaro Coupe explained: 

The term ‘common law basis’ does not, in the context of 

this case, mean that the action originated at common law, 

for even prior to 1790, forfeiture actions were of 

statutory origin. See, e.g., The Judiciary Act of 1789, 1 

Stat 73. Rather, ‘common law basis’ refers to the nature of 

the proceeding in common law courts such as the Court of 

Exchequer, but not courts of Admiralty or Chancery. Long 

before the American Revolution, English Admiralty courts, 

for example, heard forfeiture cases without a jury, but 

where common law courts (Courts of Exchequer) had 

jurisdiction to hear forfeiture cases, as in cases involving 

forfeitures on land, where there is an issue as to whether the 

seized goods are contraband, the cases were, according to 

common law tradition heard by the court sitting with a 

jury . . . .

Separate courts exercising the jurisdiction of the Court of 

Exchequer were never established in the American 

Colonies. Instead, that jurisdiction was absorbed by the 

common law courts which entertained suits for the 

forfeiture of property under English or local statutes 

authorizing its condemnation. Long before the adoption 

of the Constitution the common law courts in the 

Colonies – and later in the states during the period of 

Confederation –were exercising jurisdiction in rem in 

the enforcement of forfeiture statutes.

One (1) 1984 Z-28 Camaro Coupe, 610 A.2d at 40 (citation omitted) (bold emphasis 

supplied). 

Based upon this passage, it is obvious that the Salamone court’s reliance 

on One (1) 1984 Z-28 Camaro Coupe was misplaced, misinterpreting what the 

Supreme Court meant by “common law basis” and overlooking the fact that the 
23

Supreme Court was discussing the right to a jury trial in statutory forfeiture 

proceedings. Therefore, Salamone cannot be construed as supporting the postulate 

that common law forfeiture (absent a statute) exists in Pennsylvania and does not 

revive or bolster prior Superior Court cases holding that there is common law 

forfeiture. 

Turning to the precedent of this Court, it should first be noted that we, as 

a co-equal intermediate appellate court, are not bound by the Superior Court’s 

precedents, but we may adopt the Superior Court’s reasoning where persuasive. 

Wertz v. Chapman Township, 709 A.2d 428, 433 n. 8 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1998). 

In Commonwealth v. Cox, 637 A.2d 757 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1994), a threejudge panel of this Court questioned the Superior Court’s conclusion in Crosby that 

common law forfeitures exists, calling that decision and its holding “dubious.” 637 

A.2d at 758. Notably, we declined to decide whether to follow Crosby, resting our 

decision on other grounds. Particularly, this Court held that the Commonwealth 

could not attempt to obtain forfeiture after the defendant filed a motion for return of 

property because the Commonwealth did not file a forfeiture petition or make an oral 

motion for forfeiture. We explained that “[t]he trial court in essence granted a 

forfeiture motion which did not exist.” Id. at 759.

In Commonwealth v. One 1990 Dodge Ram Van, 751 A.2d 1235 (Pa.

Cmwlth. 2000), the Commonwealth sought the forfeiture of a van owned by the 

defendant, who was convicted of kidnapping and murder after stabbing the victim in 

the van and using the van to discard the victim’s body. Recognizing the doubts 

expressed in Cox about common law forfeiture in Pennsylvania, this Court 

nonetheless relied on Crosby to hold that the van was derivative contraband subject to 
24

common law forfeiture because the Commonwealth established a specific nexus 

between the van and the criminal activity. 

In One 2001 Toyota Camry, rendered in 2006, an en banc panel of this 

Court arguably accepted the holding in Crosby that common law forfeiture exists in 

the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. See One Toyota Camry, 894 A.2d at 210-11; 

see also Salamone, 897 A.2d at 1217 n.11 (interpreting One 2001 Toyota Camry as 

accepting and applying the holding in Crosby). 

In our most recent pronouncement on the issue, 2010 Buick Enclave, the 

Commonwealth sought forfeiture of a vehicle, currency, and a pistol that were seized 

in connection with a criminal investigation into a fraudulent income tax scheme. On 

appeal, the defendant contended that this property was not forfeitable because he was 

never convicted of a crime. This Court agreed, concluding that proof of a conviction 

was a necessary prerequisite for the Commonwealth to utilize common law forfeiture. 

In our discussion, we noted the distinction between statutory and common law 

forfeiture but did not address whether common law forfeiture even exists because the 

defendant did not raise the issue. We did, however, note the Crosby court’s criticism 

of the notion of common law forfeiture. We also opened the door for a challenge to 

the existence of common law forfeiture in the future:

[The appellant] does not challenge the existence of common 

law forfeiture in the Commonwealth. Accordingly, that 

issue is not before us. [The appellant] does, however, 

contend that the common law forfeiture of his property was 

improper because he was never charged with, let alone 

convicted of, a crime. This is where an important 

distinction between statutory forfeiture and common law 

forfeiture (assuming, arguendo, it exists) arises. 
25

99 A.3d at 168. Because the defendant in 2010 Buick Enclave was never convicted 

of a crime, this Court ultimately concluded that the confiscated items could not be 

forfeited under the theory of common law forfeiture. 

III. Analysis

Upon our independent examination, we conclude that the Crosby court’s 

criticism of Coghe, Maglisco, and Estate of Peetros is justified because those cases 

lack authoritative support, relying solely on case law where there was a statute 

specifically authorizing forfeiture and an inapplicable rule of criminal procedure. 

Likewise, the Superior Court’s decision in Salamone is unpersuasive because our 

Supreme Court in One (1) 1984 Z-28 Camaro Coupe did not discuss, much less 

mention, common law forfeiture. Although Coghe, Maglisco, Estate of Peetros, and 

Salamone may by themselves be considered to be part of the common law, the 

validity and legal soundness of these decisions have been called into question, not 

only by the Superior Court, but also by this Court. Accordingly, we now determine

whether there is actual authoritative support for common law forfeiture in 

Pennsylvania. 

In 1992, the Washington Court of Appeals surveyed the national case 

law arena and concluded: “Every jurisdiction that has considered the question has 

held that the power to order forfeiture is purely statutory.” Alaway, 828 P.2d at 593

(citing Farrell, 606 F.2d at 1350; Lane Motor Co., 199 F.2d at 496 (10th Cir. 1952), 

aff’d, 344 U.S. 630 (1953); Ghisolfo, 14 F.2d at 390; Davis, 504 F. Supp. at 505; 

Brant, 684 F.Supp. at 424; Two Hundred and Sixty-Seven Twenty-Dollar Gold 

Pieces, 255 F. at 220; State v. Anonymous, 406 A.2d at 8; One 1960 Mercury Station 
26

Wagon, 240 A.2d at 104; Barenfeld, 203 Cal. App.2d at 177; Rice, 52 N.E.2d at 624; 

Wooras, 93 P.2d at 461)). 

 The Washington Court of Appeals further observed: “Scholarly

authorities also establish that the United States has never had a common law of 

forfeiture, and that since colonial times, forfeiture in this country has existed only by 

virtue of statute.” Alaway, 828 P.2d at 595 (citing C. Smith, Modern Forfeiture Law 

and Policy: A Proposal for Reform, 19 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 661 (1977-1978); Jacob 

Finkelstein, The Goring Ox: Some Historical Perspectives on Deodands, Forfeitures, 

Wrongful Death and the Western Notion of Sovereignty, 46 Temp. L.Q. 169 (1972-

1973); O.W. Holmes, The Common Law 34-35 (1881)).

In addition, based upon our research, the secondary authorities and law 

review articles appear to be in unanimous accord that common law forfeiture has 

never existed in America and can only be warranted by express statutory 

authorization. See, e.g., 36 Am. Jur. 2d FORFEITURES AND PENALTIES §19 (2016)

(“The right to bring a forfeiture cause exists by statute, not by virtue of the . . . 

common law.”); 38 American Law Reports 4th, 515 (1991) (“In this country, 

however, forfeiture exists only by virtue of statute.”); 8 Ruling Case Law, 257 (1929) 

(“[T]he forfeiture and disabilities imposed by the common law on persons attainted of 

felony are unknown to the laws of this country, and no consequences follow 

conviction and sentence, except such as are declared by law.”); Michael Van Den 

Berg, Comment, Proposing a Transactional Approach to Civil Forfeiture Reform, 

163 U. PA. L. REV. 867, 874 (2015) (“Although common law forfeiture was not part 

of the U.S. tradition, statutory forfeiture achieved recognition as legitimate and 

played a role through the first two centuries of the republic.”); Development in State 

Constitutional Law: 2000, 32 RUTGERS L.J. 1079, 1098 n. 64 (2000) (“[I]n the United 
27

States there is no common law forfeiture, and therefore, all forfeiture must be 

specifically authorized by statute.”); Lieske, supra at 276 (“Of the three kinds of 

forfeiture recognized in the English common law, only statutory forfeiture is 

recognized in the United States.”); Leslie C. Smith, Modern Forfeiture Law and 

Policy: A Proposal for Reform, 19 WM. & MARY L. REV. 661, 661 (1978) (“Although 

never a part of our common law, forfeiture, however, has existed by statute in the 

United States since colonial days.”). In terms of forfeiture based upon conviction of a 

felony or treason, this English common law tradition has largely been abolished or 

greatly modified by most states’ constitutions. Hauert, supra at 167-68 & nn. 64, 72-

74.

“Like the constitutions of Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, and most of 

the original 13 Colonies, Pennsylvania’s Constitution was drafted in the midst of the 

American Revolution, as the first overt expression of independence from the British 

Crown.” Commonwealth v. Edmunds, 586 A.2d 887, 896 (Pa. 1991). 

Article 9, Section 18 of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides: “No 

person shall be attainted of treason or felony by the Legislature.” Pa. Const. art. IX, 

§18. In 1790, Article 9, Section 19 stated: “No attainder shall work corruption of 

blood, nor, except during the life of the offender, forfeiture of estate to the 

Commonwealth. The estate of such persons as shall destroy their own lives shall 

descend or vest as in cases of natural death, and if any person shall be killed by 

casualty there shall be no forfeiture by reason thereof.” Former Pa. Const. art. IX, 

§19, as amended. 

In Carpenter’s Estate, 32 A. 637 (Pa. 1895), the defendant son was 

convicted for murdering his father and the defendant mother was convicted of being 

an accessory after the fact. Both defendants committed their crimes with the intent to 
28

inherit the father’s estate and assigned their respective interests in the estate to 

another person. The collateral kin sued, claiming that the defendants forfeited their 

right to receive a share of the father’s estate. On appeal, our Supreme Court 

disagreed, engaging in constitutional commentary. 

We quote our High Court’s words verbatim:

The penalty for murder in the first degree in Pennsylvania is 

death by hanging. No confiscation of lands or goods, and 

no deprivation of the inheritable quality of blood, 

constitutes any part of the penalty of this offense. The 

Declaration of Rights, article 1, sec. 18, of the constitution 

of the state declares that “no person shall be attainted of 

treason or felony by the legislature,” and by section 19 it is 

provided that, “No attainder shall work corruption of blood 

nor, except during the life of the offender, forfeiture of 

estate to the commonwealth. The estate of such persons as 

shall destroy their own lives, shall descend or vest in cases 

of natural death; and if any person shall be killed by 

casualty, there shall be no forfeiture by reason thereof.”

These are provisions of the organic law which may not be 

transcended by any legislation. Inasmuch as the prescribed 

penalty for murder is death by hanging, Crimes Act of 

1860, sec. 75, Bright. Purd. 511, pl. 232, without any 

forfeiture of estate or corruption of blood, it cannot be said 

that any such consequence can be lawfully attributed to any 

such offense. In other words our constitution positively 

prohibits any attaint of treason or felony by the legislature 

and any corruption of blood by reason of attainder or any 

forfeiture of estate, except during the life of the offender. 

The legislature has never imposed any penalty of 

corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate for the crime 

of murder, and therefore no such penalty has any legal 

existence. 

32 A. at 637 (emphasis supplied). 

Our Supreme Court in Carpenter’s Estate then cited a decision from the 

North Carolina Supreme Court favorably, proclaiming that “[f]orfeitures of property 
29

for crime are unknown to our law,” id. at 638 (citation omitted), and concluded that 

legislative action was necessary to authorize forfeiture. Although our Supreme 

Court’s decision in Carpenter’s Estate did not specifically deal with derivative 

contraband, that case made clear that Article 9, Sections 18 and 19 of the 

Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790 embody concepts that run counter to and conflict 

with the idea of common law forfeiture. In interpreting similar language in their state 

constitutions, the courts of other states have likewise concluded that their 

constitutions abolished forfeiture of property rights upon conviction of a crime. See, 

e.g., Weeks v. New York Life Ins. Co., 122 S.E. 586, 589-90 (S.C. 1924), accord Last 

v. MSI Const. Co., 409 S.E.2d 334, 336 (S.C. 1991) (“The South Carolina 

Constitution forbids the automatic forfeiture of property rights upon conviction.”); 

Progressive Life Ins. Co. v. Dean, 97 S.W.2d 62, 63-64 (Ark. 1936); Fields v. 

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 249 S.W. 798, 798 (Tenn. 1923), accord State v. 

Sprunger, 458 S.W.3d 482, 493 (Tenn. 2015) (“The public policy of this state as 

expressed in the state constitution opposes forfeitures for convictions of crimes unless 

specifically provided for.”). 

Following the natural direction of Carpenter’s Estate and the 

unquestioned view espoused by various courts and commentators, we conclude that 

there is no such thing as common law forfeiture in Pennsylvania and that an 

individual’s property can be forfeited only when the General Assembly enacts 

legislation that explicitly provides for forfeiture as a penalty for proscribed conduct. 

See also Commonwealth v. Wright, 494 A.2d 354, 357 & 361 (Pa. 1985); 

Commonwealth ex rel. Lycett v. Ash, 20 A.2d 881, 883 (Pa. Super. 1941) (recognizing

that the legislature has the exclusive power to pronounce which acts are crimes, to 

define crimes, and to fix the punishment for all crimes). In this case, it is undisputed 
30

that there was no statute authorizing the forfeiture of Irland’s handgun. Therefore, 

despite the fact that Irland pled guilty to the misdemeanor crime of disorderly 

conduct, the trial court lacked the legal authority to order the forfeiture and 

destruction of Irland’s handgun. 

Before concluding, we would be remiss if we did not note the fact that 

Irland pled guilty to a misdemeanor summary offense rather than a felony. As 

previously explained, at English common law, the crimes of felony and treason were 

defined as such solely because the punishment imposed upon conviction was 

forfeiture of the individual’s property and estate. However, unlike the crimes of 

felony and treason, a misdemeanor conviction did not carry such a consequence. See 

Lynch, 88 Pa. at 192-93; Blackstone, supra, at 94. Therefore, because forfeiture 

based upon a misdemeanor was never recognized at English common law, we 

conclude in the alternative that the Commonwealth could not seek forfeiture of 

Irland’s handgun given the fact that Irland was only convicted of the summary 

offense of disorderly conduct. 

IV. Conclusion

This Court certainly does not condone or minimize Irland’s actions. 

However, the issue before us is whether, under the common law of Pennsylvania, an 

individual forfeits property to the government where the conduct has a nexus to – and 

results in a guilty plea to – the summary offense of disorderly conduct, particularly

when there is no statute that explicitly authorizes forfeiture in such a situation. 

Although English common law recognized forfeiture upon conviction for a felony or 

treason, this concept and the broader notion of common law forfeiture was never 

imported to our Commonwealth. In light of the overwhelming weight of the 
31

authority and our Supreme Court’s decision in Carpenter’s Estate, we conclude that

common law forfeiture does not exist in Pennsylvania; consequently, we are 

constrained to overrule our case law to the extent that it holds to the contrary on the 

ground that such case law was erroneously decided. Absent a statute that specifically 

authorizes the forfeiture of property, the Commonwealth had no authority to seek, 

and the trial court had no authority to order, forfeiture of Irland’s property.

Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s order and remand to the trial court with 

instruction to enter an appropriate order that the property be returned to Irland.8 

________________________________

PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, Judge

 

8 Due to our disposition, which effectuates full relief to Irland (return of the handgun), we

need not address Irland’s alternative argument regarding statutory displacement of common law 

forfeiture. 
IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania :

: No. 448 C.D. 2015

v. :

:

Justen Irland; Smith and Wesson :

9MM Semi-Automatic Pistol, :

Serial #PDW0493 :

:

Appeal of: Justen Irland :

ORDER

AND NOW, this 13th day of January, 2017, the March 9, 2015 order 

of the Court of Common Pleas of Adams County (trial court) is reversed. The case 

is remanded to the trial court with directions to enter an appropriate order that the 

handgun be returned to Justen Irland. 

Jurisdiction relinquished. 

________________________________

PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, Judge