Reply #52: "In Rem" is something I had occasionally heard, but had to Google to refresh my memory. [View All]

[pnorman]

I imagine more than a few here on DU are in the same situation.

This may be the pertinent find: "The use of this kind of jurisdiction in asset forfeiture cases is troublesome because it has been increasingly used in situations where the party in possession is known, which by historical common law standards would make him the presumptive owner, and yet the prosecution and court presumes he is not the owner and proceeds accordingly. This kind of process has been used to seize large sums of cash from persons who are presumed to have obtained the case unlawfully because of the large amount, often in situations where the person could prove he was in lawful possession of it, but was forced to spend more on legal fees to do so than the amount of money forfeited."

And Mucho Thanks to this thread for pointing out the connection to Admiralty Law.

pnorman