Confiscation (from the Latin confiscatio "to consign to the fiscus , i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, or of any seizure of property as punishment or in enforcement of the law.
19-526: Vailele is a village situated on the central north coast of Upolu island in Samoa . It’s not to be confused with the far bigger Vaitele . Vailele is in the electoral constituency ( faipule district ) of Vaimauga East in the larger political district of Tuamasaga . The village is less than ten minutes east of the country's capital, Apia . The settlement is north facing and situated in Vailele Bay. In
38-498: A tsunami at 06:48:11 local time on 29 September 2009 (17:48:11 UTC ). Twenty villages on Upolu's south side were reportedly destroyed, including Lepā , the home of Samoa's prime minister , Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi . In Lepā, only the church and the village's welcome sign remained standing after the disaster. An extremely small species of spider lives on Upolu. According to the Guinness Book of World Records ,
57-684: A large mound Laupule, associated with a figure called Tupuivao in oral history and another mound Tapuitea ( evening star ). The studies of the mounds during the early 1940s were carried out by New Zealand anthropologist Derek Freeman (referred to as J.D. Freeman in literature) who was a schoolteacher in Samoa from April 1940 to November 1943. Freeman also excavated the Falemauga Caves in Upolu's interior. Plainware pottery sherds were found in 1957 by archaeologist Jack Golson . Upolu Upolu
76-568: A serious problem. By harshly enforcing customs laws, particularly the more obscure regulations, corrupt customs officials could seize property almost with impunity. This caused significant conflict between the United States and Great Britain. In the United States among the "war measures" during the American Civil War , acts were passed in 1861 and 1862 confiscating, respectively, property used for "insurrectionary purposes" and
95-527: Is an island in Samoa , formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean . The island is 75 kilometres (47 miles) long and 1,125 square kilometres (434 square miles) in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximately 145,000 inhabitants, it is by far the most populous of the Samoan Islands. Upolu
114-434: Is not primarily meant to match the crime but rather reattributes the criminal's ill-gotten spoils (often as a complement to the actual punishment for the crime itself; still common with various kinds of contraband , such as protected living organisms) to the community or even aims to rob them of their socio-economic status, in the extreme case reducing them to utter poverty, or if he or she is condemned to death even denies them
133-480: Is situated to the southeast of Savai'i , the "big island". Apia , the capital , is in the middle of the north coast, and Faleolo International Airport at the western end of the island. The island has not had any historically recorded eruptions, although there is evidence of three lava flows, dating back only to between a few hundred and a few thousand years ago. In the Samoan branch of Polynesian mythology , Upolu
152-618: The Bombardment of Upolu , an incident during the United States Exploring Expedition . In the late 19th century, the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson owned a 400-acre (160-hectare) estate in the village of Vailima in Upolu. He died there in 1894 and is buried at the top of Mount Vaea overlooking his former estate. The Vailima estate was purchased in 1900 to serve as the official residence for
171-600: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have also stated its importance as a crime prevention tool. A further trend has been the reversal of the burden of proof for the purpose of facilitating confiscation. To the surprise of many, it is actually quite legal for law enforcement agencies to take property from people who haven't been convicted of a crime yet as civil asset forfeiture, a practice which brings in millions of dollars of revenue each year, disproportionately affecting people without means or access to
190-672: The German governor of German Samoa . When the British / Dominion took over governance of the islands, they confiscated the estate and put it to the same use. It later served as the residence for the New Zealand administrator and, after independence, for the Samoan head of state. During World War II , the US Navy built Naval Base Upolu on the island. The island of Upolu was hit by
209-510: The U.S. Customs Service . Originally, in Roman law, confiscation was the seizure and transfer of private property to the fiscus (treasury) by the emperor; hence the appropriation, under legal authority, of private property to the state. In modern English law, confiscation embraces forfeiture in the case of goods, and escheat in the case of lands, for crime or in default of heirs (see also Eminent domain ). Goods may also be confiscated by
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#1732772416535228-624: The 1800s, the large Vailele Plantation inland was owned by the German company Deutsche Handels und Plantagen Gesellschaft (DHPG) which employed workers from the Melanesian islands. DHPG was a major plantation owner in Samoa. It had formerly traded in the Pacific as Godeffroys but changed its name and expanded operations in Samoa when the family's parent company in Hamburg became bankrupt. Much of
247-450: The power to bequeath inheritance to their legal heirs. Meanwhile, limited confiscation is often in function of the crime, the rationale being that the criminal must be denied the fruits of their fault, while the crime itself is rather punished in some other, independent way, such as prison term, physical punishments or even a concurring fine. Often, police will auction items confiscated via police auction or asset forfeiture and keep
266-518: The proceeds. Theoretically, it is possible for owners to buy back confiscated items. In airports , potentially dangerous items (such as hazardous chemicals, weapons, and sharp objects) are usually confiscated at inspections. Other items, such as certain food, may also be confiscated, depending on importation laws. Depending on the nature of the items, some may be returned at the end of the flight, while most are discarded or auctioned off. The musical comedian Anna Russell had an Irish harp confiscated by
285-460: The property generally of those engaged in rebellion. There was from the late 1980s onwards a resurgence of interest in confiscation as crime prevention tool, which went hand in hand with the interest in the criminalization of money laundering . A number of international instruments, starting with the 1988 Vienna Convention, have strongly suggested the enactment of legal provisions enabling confiscation of proceeds of crime. The 40 recommendations of
304-417: The spider is the size of a period (full stop) on a printed page. Upolu was the filming location for the 1953 South Seas film Return to Paradise , starring Gary Cooper . The island was also the filming location for several seasons of several editions of the competition reality television series, Survivor . This included: Confiscation As a punishment, it differs from a fine in that it
323-616: The state for breaches of statutes relating to customs, excise or explosives. In the United Kingdom a confiscation order is a court order made under part 2 (England & Wales), part 3 (Scotland) or part 4 (Northern Ireland) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requiring a convicted defendant to pay a specified sum of money to the state by a specified date. During the American Revolution , customs racketeering became
342-496: The village land lost during colonialism is now owned by the government operated Western Samoa Trust Estate Corporation (WSTEC). Financial difficulties by WSTEC in the late 1970s and early 1980s resulted in the sale of land in Vailele. However, the government returned some of the land to villagers in Vailele and neighbouring villages Lauli'i and Letogo. Archaeological field work in Samoa uncovered earth mounds at Vailele, including
361-628: Was the first woman on the island. James Michener based his character Bloody Mary in Tales of the South Pacific (later a major character in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, South Pacific ) on the owner of Aggie Grey's Hotel on the south end of the island. She was still running the hotel in 1960. A branch was later opened in Apia, overlooking the harbor. In 1841, the island was the site of
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