4 ms·
You should read up on civil asset forfeiture - it's hilariously obtuse. They arrest your money. You are not accused of a crime, your money is. Your money is
by soneil 3y ago
You should read up on civil asset forfeiture - it's hilariously obtuse.
They arrest your money. You are not accused of a crime, your money is. Your money is not a person, and thus has no constitutional rights. Your money is not innocent until proven, that's a silly system reserved for persons - instead, your money must prove its innocence. And thus you get cases with absurd titles such as "United States v. $84,740.00 U.S. Currency" ( https://casetext.com/case/us-v-8474000-us-currency https://casetext.com/case/us-v-8474000-us-currency )
I'd love to say you can't make this up, but they did.
- cdchn 3y agoHere's even more absurd: United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola A federal suit under which the government unsuccessfully attempted to force the Coca-Cola Company to remove caffeine from its product.
- danbruc 3y agoI remember some discussion here quite some time ago where somebody brought this up and linked to a list of the strangest cases, I still remember something like United States vs. a few tons of fish.
- cdchn 3y agoWikipedia's list of "in rem" cases has a lot of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:United_States_in_rem_cases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:United_States_in_rem_...
- danbruc 3y agoThere it is. Seemingly it was not against complete fish. United States v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds of Shark Fins [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Approximately_64,695_Pounds_of_Shark_Fins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Approximately...
- cdchn 3y agoI see one case against complete animals in US vs. 15 Impounded Cats.
- tempodox 3y agoIn the middle ages they had a lawsuit against the woodworms that ate a pulpit because a preacher fell when it eventually broke down, but one can always optimize for more absurdity.
- winrid 3y agoUnited States v. One Solid Gold Object in Form of a Rooster https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._One_Solid_Gold_Object_in_Form_of_a_Rooster https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._One_Solid_G...