Contraband  

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The word contraband, reported in English since 1529, from Medieval French contrebande "a smuggling," denotes any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold.

It is used for goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the legislator (termed contraband in se) and forbidden. So-called derivative contraband refers to goods that may normally be owned, but are liable to be seized because they were used in committing an unlawful act and hence begot illegally:

  • smuggling goods
  • stolen goods – knowingly participating in their trade is an offense in itself, called fencing
  • the fruits of fraud, forgery etc.

The word is also used as an adjective, again meaning 'distributed or sold illicitly'.




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Contraband" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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