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Literary notes about confiscate (AI summary)

The term "confiscate" is used in literature to encapsulate the forceful and often arbitrary seizure of property or rights, reflecting both legal and political tensions. In some texts, it appears in discussions about constitutional limits and state overreach, as seen when property rights are taken away in debates over constitutional law ([1]) or when exiled individuals lose their goods ([2]). The word also finds itself at the center of satirical or light-hearted narratives, such as when a small property is seized from a commoner ([3]) or when a keg of claret is the target of a mischievous plot ([4]). More severe contexts emerge in accounts of political repression where estates are confiscated through malice and force ([5]) and in economic critiques that discuss how governments, through processes like inflation, clandestinely enrich themselves at the expense of their citizens ([6], [7]). The term is similarly employed in dramatic exchanges involving personal debts or national conflicts ([8], [9], [10], [11]), illustrating a versatile usage that underscores its association with both systematic power and individual misfortune.
  1. t off the wife's right of dower, in any case do confiscate property rights, and hence are unconstitutional .
    — from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I
  2. The reste also of that order fled into exile, whose goods were confiscate.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  3. Your lord the bishop will confiscate your small property, but no matter.
    — from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
  4. Presently Swizzle turned to me:— “We have just been planning how to confiscate a keg of claret, which Nips, the purser, keeps under his bunk.
    — from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte
  5. In his rage he put to death some of the Roman senators, some through malice; and others to confiscate their estates.
    — from Fox's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe
  6. By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily ; and, while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some.
    — from The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes
  7. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.
    — from The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes
  8. He is a debtor of mine and must be brought here at once, or I will confiscate all your merchandise.
    — from The Arabian Nights Entertainments by Andrew Lang
  9. We do confiscate, Towards the satisfying of your accounts, All that you have. ANTONIO.
    — from The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
  10. If we carried for England, France would confiscate; if for France, England would confiscate.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  11. If we carried for England, France would confiscate; if for France, England would confiscate.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson

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