In 1984, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Crime Control Act, which gave federal prosecutors new forfeiture provisions to combat crime.

The Federal appeals court in California refused last year to enforce the forfeiture provision, ruling that it violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against "excessive fines."

The appeal noted that the Federal appeals court in New York had rejected a similar constitutional challenge to the forfeiture provision.

They did not contain a forfeiture provision.

The issue did not concern the law of mistake but the application of the forfeiture provisions contained in the tender documents.

"RICO and its forfeiture provision is the main threat to deterring economic crime," Mr. Goldsmith said.

On 1 October 1930 changes were made to the forfeiture provisions, no longer specifying grounds for forfeiture, but also allowing the medal to be restored again.

But civil liberties groups argue that the forfeiture provisions could be used to seize the assets of legitimate shops that sell relatively little sexually explicit material.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers could not reach an agreement on how Mr. Milken and other defendants could satisfy the pretrial forfeiture provisions.

This forfeiture provision was renewed in 1649.