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Judgments - Double Jeopardy - Res Judicata - Effect Of Prior Conviction Or Acquittal On Subsequent Suit For Statutory Penalty Or Forfeiture, Edward W. Rothe S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The case of United States v. One De Soto Sedan has again focused attention on some of the perplexing problems raised by the statutory imposition of both criminal and civil sanctions for the same wrongful act. The court held that an acquittal in a criminal prosecution for possessing liquor on which no federal tax had been paid was a bar to a civil in rem proceeding to forfeit claimant's car as having been used in the removal, deposit and concealment of the same liquor with intent to defraud the United States of taxes. Since the two proceedings involved the same …