Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/325

FORFARSHIRE stantial houses. Among its public buildings are a handsome county hall, a court house, a library and reading room, and a mechanics' institute. Its staple manufacture is linen, chief- ly sheetings, osnaburgs, and dowlas. Shoes called brogues are also made largely for ex- port. Forfar is connected by railway with Aberdeen, Arbroath, and the south. It has been a royal burgh since the reign of David L, and its' castle, destroyed by Robert Bruce in 1307, was once a royal residence.. FORFARSHIRE, or Angns, an E. county of Scotland, on the coast of the North sea, and bordering on the counties of Kincardine, Aber- deen, and Perth, with the frith of Tay on the south ; area, 875 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 237,567. It has about 45 m. of coast. The surface is irregular and intersected by hills, the Benchennin, a part of the Grampians, in the N. W., and S. of and parallel to them the Sidlaw: The valley of Strathmore, which lies between these ranges, is celebrated for its beauty and fertility ; and the part bordering on the sea is level, fruitful, and highly cultiva- ted. The principal rivers are the Tay, N. Esk, S. Esk, and Isla. Agriculture is in a very advanced state. Wheat, oats, barley, pota- toes, and turnips are raised largely ; and sheep and cattle are bred to some extent. There are . valuable deep-sea, herring, and salmon fish- eries along the coast and in the rivers. The principal minerals are limestone and slate. Forfarshire is the seat of the coarse linen manufactures of Scotland. Its chief towns are Forfar, the capital, and Dundee, Montrose, Arbroath, and Brechin. FORFEITURE, in law, the loss of property as a consequence of some act which the law for- bids and attaches this penalty to, or which the party has agreed not to do under the same penalty. Forfeiture is defined by Blackstone as a punishment which the law inflicts. It is so undoubtedly in all cases of forfeiture by crime ; but we apprehend that it can be called punishment in the ordinary cases of civil for- feiture only as all consequences of wrong doing may be called punishment. Forfeiture was annexed by the law of England to many offen- ces, as treason, felony, misprision of treason, prasmunire, drawing a weapon upon a judge, or striking any person in the presence of any of the king's courts of justice. Lands and hereditaments were forfeited only upon at- tainder or corruption of blood ; but forfeiture of goods and chattels took place upon convic- tion. Attainder, and the consequent forfeiture, were the most powerful instruments by which the greatest tyrants among the English mon- archs endeavored to confirm and increase their power. Our fathers held them in so much dread and detestation, that the constitution of the United States (art. iii., sec. 3) declares that no attainder of treason shall work cor- ruption of blood or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted ; and now in England, by statute 3 and 4 "William IV., c. FORGE 31T 106, forfeiture for crime, where it exists at all, is only for the life of the person attainted. Civil forfeiture may occur in three ways: 1. By operation of law, the principal instance of which at common law was the forfeiture of estates which were less than a fee, which was incurred when the holder made a conveyance of a greater estate than he held ; as for ex- ample, if a tenant of land for life or years con- veyed the land in fee, the grantee took nothing, but the whole estate of the grantor was for- feited to the remainderman, or reversioner. In the United States, however, a more just and rational rule prevails. With some diversity in its details, it may be generally expressed thus : A grant of more than the grantor has operates as a grant of all he has, and as to all that is more it is void. 2. When certain conditions are annexed to an estate, either in the deed or devise or otherwise, at the original creation, the penalty of forfeiture may be annexed to those conditions, and will take effect if they be broken ; as if A grants to B land, on con- dition that neither he nor any one claiming by or through him shall put up a certain building, or any building within a certain distance of one of the boundaries, or any other thing of like kind, then if anything is done which vio- lates the condition, the land is forfeited. It may be remarked, however, that the law does not favor conditions of this kind ; and courts would construe them, where it could properly be done, either as giving a right to the grantor to abate and remove whatever thus violates the agreement, or as an injury for which com- pensation may be had in damages, leaving, in both cases, the estate undisturbed. 3. One may agree to pay a certain sum in case a less sum be not paid, or some other certain thing be not done, at a certain time. This is usually done by a bond ; and the sum thus agreed to be paid is a penalty, which the courts of Eng- land and of the United States will reduce to the amount actually due. So one who becomes surety for another in a certain sum that this other shall appear at a certain time, forfeits the sum if that other does not appear. But on good cause being shown, courts have the power, and are usually willing to exercise it, to miti- gate the penalty, and remit the forfeiture in whole or in part. FORGE, a manufactory in which iron or steel is softened by heat and worked under the hammer. The term is also applied to works in which the native oxides of iron are reduced without fusion to a metallic state, and then forged into blooms or bars. Several forms of these are noticed in the article BLOOMAEY. Forges differ from founderies and blast fur- naces in their products being articles of wrought iron, while those of the latter are castings. The works in which the pig iron, obtained from the blast furnaces, is converted into mal- leable iron by the process termed puddling (see IKON), are commonly called puddling furnaces from one department of the operation; but