Synopses & Reviews
Leonard Levy traces the development and implementation of forfeiture and contends that it is a questionable practice, which, because it is so often abused, serves only to undermine civil society. Arguing that civil forfeiture is unconstitutional, Levy provides examples of the victimization of innocent people and demonstrates that it has been used primarily against petty offienders rather than against its original targets, members of organized crime.
Review
This cogent, carefully researched, and well-argued study . . . places historians and the public generally in his debt.
American Historical Review
Review
A concise and entertaining summary of the historical origins of modern civil and criminal forfeiture in early English law.
Michigan Law Review
Review
This . . . is both an essential casebook and an outspoken, feisty, important study of the struggle for intellectual and religious liberties.
Publishers Weekly
Review
A valuable work on an important subject.
Appellate Practice Journal
About the Author
Leonard W. Levy is Andrew W. Mellon All-Claremont Professor Emeritus of Humanities at the Claremont Graduate School. He is author of The Establishment Clause: Religion and the First Amendment# and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Origins of the Fifth Amendment.