Cite as: 524 U. S. 321 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
nothing about the proportionality of the punitive forfeiture at issue here. See supra, at 330-332.16
Other statutes, however, imposed monetary "forfeitures" proportioned to the value of the goods involved. See, e. g., Act of July 31, 1789, § 22, 1 Stat. 42 (if an importer, "with design to defraud the revenue," did not invoice his goods at their actual cost at the place of export, "all such goods, wares or merchandise, or the value thereof . . . shall be forfeited"); § 25, id., at 43 (any person concealing or purchasing goods, knowing they were liable to seizure for violation of the customs laws, was liable to "forfeit and pay a sum double the value of the goods so concealed or purchased"); see also Act of Aug. 4, 1790, §§ 10, 14, 22, id., at 156, 158, 161. Similar statutes were passed in later Congresses. See, e. g., Act of Mar. 2, 1799, §§ 24, 28, 45, 46, 66, 69, 79, 84, id., at 646, 648, 661, 662, 677, 678, 687, 694; Act of Mar. 3, 1823, ch. 58, § 1, 3 Stat. 781.
These "forfeitures" were similarly not considered punishments for criminal offenses. This Court so recognized in Stockwell v. United States, 13 Wall. 531 (1871), a case interpreting a statute that, like the Act of July 31, 1789, provided that a person who had concealed goods liable to seizure for customs violations should "forfeit and pay a sum double the amount or value of the goods." Act of Mar. 3, 1823, ch. 58, § 2, 3 Stat. 781-782. The Stockwell Court rejected the de-16 The nonpunitive nature of these early forfeitures was not lost on the Department of Justice, in commenting on the punitive forfeiture provisions of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970:
" 'The concept of forfeiture as a criminal penalty which is embodied in this provision differs from other presently existing forfeiture provisions under Federal statutes where the proceeding is in rem against the property and the thing which is declared unlawful under the statute, or which is used for an unlawful purpose, or in connection with the prohibited property or transaction, is considered the offender, and the forfeiture is no part of the punishment for the criminal offense. Examples of such forfeiture provisions are those contained in the customs, narcotics, and revenue laws.' " S. Rep. No. 91-617, p. 79 (1969) (emphasis added).
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