The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that common-law civil forfeiture does not exist in Pennsylvania, but stopped short of saying the same for common-law criminal forfeiture, instead leaving that issue for another day.

The justices ruled 6-1 to uphold a unanimous January 2017 decision by the Commonwealth Court en banc in Commonwealth v. Irland, which said the state government has no legal basis, absent statutory authority, for seizing so-called derivative contraband. The Commonwealth Court’s decision had reversed an Adams County trial judge’s ruling.

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