Cite as: 509 U. S. 602 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
so might have prevented the Forfeiture." Mitchell, Park., at 238, 145 Eng. Rep., at 768.
B
Of England's three kinds of forfeiture, only the third took hold in the United States. "Deodands did not become part of the common-law tradition of this country." Calero-Toledo, 416 U. S., at 682. The Constitution forbids forfeiture of estate as a punishment for treason "except during the Life of the Person attainted," U. S. Const., Art. III, § 3, cl. 2, and the First Congress also abolished forfeiture of estate as a punishment for felons. Act of Apr. 30, 1790, ch. 9, § 24, 1 Stat. 117. "But '[l]ong before the adoption of the Constitution the common law courts in the Colonies—and later in the states during the period of Confederation—were exercising jurisdiction in rem in the enforcement of [English and local] forfeiture statutes.' " Calero-Toledo, 416 U. S., at 683, quoting C. J. Hendry Co. v. Moore, 318 U. S. 133, 139 (1943).
The First Congress passed laws subjecting ships and cargos involved in customs offenses to forfeiture. It does not follow from that fact, however, that the First Congress thought such forfeitures to be beyond the purview of the Eighth Amendment. Indeed, examination of those laws suggests that the First Congress viewed forfeiture as punishment. For example, by the Act of July 31, 1789, ch. 5, § 12, 1 Stat. 39, Congress provided that goods could not be unloaded except during the day and with a permit.
"[A]nd if the master or commander of any ship or vessel shall suffer or permit the same, such master and commander, and every other person who shall be aiding or assisting in landing, removing, housing, or otherwise securing the same, shall forfeit and pay the sum of four hundred dollars for every offence; shall moreover be disabled from holding any office of trust or profit under the United States, for a term not exceeding seven years; and it shall be the duty of the collector of the district, to
613
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