Fine and Forfeiture

In one line

A fine may be unlimited where the offence fixes no maximum but must never be excessive, may be enforced by imprisonment in default within stated caps, terminates on payment, may be levied for six years, and survives the offender's death against his property.

The two punishments

Section 4(d) provides forfeiture of property and section 4(e) provides fine. They are separate punishments, and the difference is worth stating.

A fine is a sum of money the offender is ordered to pay to the state. It is measured in money and not in property.

Forfeiture of property takes specific property out of the offender's ownership. It is a punishment in section 4, and it also appears throughout Indian regulatory law, where property connected with an offence is confiscated. Its logic is preventive rather than deterrent: it removes the gains and the means of offending.

Section 8: the working of a fine

Section 8 has seven sub-sections and each answers a distinct question.

How much, where the offence sets no maximum. Sub-section (1): where no sum is expressed to which a fine may extend, the amount is unlimited, but shall not be excessive. Both halves matter. The court is not confined by a figure, and it is confined by a standard.

May a court order imprisonment if the fine is not paid. Sub-section (2): yes, in two situations. Where the offence is punishable with imprisonment as well as fine and the offender is sentenced to a fine, with or without imprisonment; and where the offence is punishable with imprisonment or fine, or with fine only, and the offender is sentenced to a fine. In either case the court may direct by the sentence that in default of payment the offender shall suffer imprisonment for a certain term, and that imprisonment is in excess of any other imprisonment to which he has been sentenced or is liable under a commutation.

How long may that default imprisonment be. Sub-section (3): where the offence is punishable with imprisonment as well as fine, the default term shall not exceed one fourth of the maximum term of imprisonment fixed for the offence.

Of what description. Sub-section (4): imprisonment imposed in default of payment of a fine or in default of community service may be of any description to which the offender might have been sentenced for the offence.

And where the offence carries only fine or community service. Sub-section (5): the default imprisonment shall be simple, and shall not exceed