STRUCTURES AND FORMS

Confiscation of property in the criminal law of the continental and Anglo-Saxon legal families: a comparative legal analysis

Authors

  • Yulia E. Litvinova Bunin Yelets State University, 399770, Russia, Lipetsk region, Yelets, Kommunarov St., 28
DOI: 10.25726/h5997-1163-6187-o EDN: WELJWY

How to cite

GOST Litvinova Y. E. Confiscation of property in the criminal law of the continental and Anglo-Saxon legal families: a comparative legal analysis // Academic Research Journal. 2026. Vol. 4. No. 2. P. 152-163. DOI: 10.25726/h5997-1163-6187-o
APA Litvinova, Y. E. (2026). Confiscation of property in the criminal law of the continental and Anglo-Saxon legal families: a comparative legal analysis. Academic Research Journal, 4(2), 152-163. https://doi.org/10.25726/h5997-1163-6187-o

Abstract

Confiscation of property is rooted differently in the two leading legal traditions. In the continental family the seizure of assets gravitates towards the figure of a criminal conviction and is tied to a proven corpus delicti, whereas in the common-law systems an autonomous recovery channel develops alongside criminal confiscation, directed against the property itself and independent of the conviction of a particular person. This divergence generates a practical conflict in the cross-border recovery of criminal proceeds, where one legal order's requirement that seizure be linked to a conviction collides with the in rem proceedings of another. The aim of the study is to establish what constitutes the substantive difference between the confiscation models of the two families and which of the foreign constructions are compatible with the current wording of Chapter 15.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The formal-legal, comparative-legal and historical-legal methods are applied, together with the method of systemic interpretation and the generalisation of normative sources. The distinguishing feature lies not in the volume of what is seized but in the procedural basis of seizure: a criminal conviction against a person or separate proceedings against a thing. A comparison of the German wording of 2017, the British Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Directive (EU) 2024/1260 reveals a mutual convergence of the traditions: continental law adopts confiscation without a conviction, while the Anglo-Saxon tradition introduces it into a criminal-procedural form. The domestic construction of confiscation as an other measure of a criminal-law character retains a rigid link to the conviction, so that its receptivity to in rem procedures is confined to the limits of a proven offence, while the reform potential shifts towards the institution of extended confiscation and towards the regime of seizing digital assets.

Keywords

confiscation of property other measure of a criminal-law character continental legal family Anglo-Saxon legal family in rem confiscation extended confiscation civil forfeiture comparative criminal law

Funding

The authors did not declare any external funding for this research.

References

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Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2026): Academic Research Journal

Section

STRUCTURES AND FORMS

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