The act of confiscating; or of condemning and adjudging to the public treasury. Confiscation acts. Certain acts of congress, enacted during the progress of the civil war (1861 and 1862) in the exercise of the war powers of the government and meant to strengthen its hands and aid in suppressing the rebellion, which authorized the seizure, condemnation, and forfeiture of “property used for insurrectionary purposes.” 12 U. S. St at Large, 319, 689; Miller v. U. S., 11 Wall. 268, 20 L. Ed. 135; Semmes v. U. S., 91 U. S. 27, 23 Li Ed. 193. Confiscation oases. The name given to a group of fifteen cases decided by the United States supreme court in 1868, on the validity and construction of the confiscation acts of congress. Reported in 7 Wall. 454, 19 L. Ed. 196.