it's also interesting, though, that governments and law enforcement are completely willing to treat objects as individuals when they want to confiscate it. my understanding of many civil forfeiture laws is that they "charge" the object with drug trafficking, or whatever, and then take it when the object doesn't mount a vigorous legal defense.

(i'd be happy to be corrected by someone who understands this better than me; I'm just pointing out that it's a related legal issue)

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United... :

  Civil forfeiture begins when government suspects that a 
  property is connected with illegal drug activity, and files 
  a civil action:[20]

  The government simply files a civil action in rem against 
  the property itself, and then generally must prove, by a 
  preponderance of the evidence, that the property is 
  forfeitable under the applicable forfeiture statute. Civil 
  forfeiture is independent of any criminal case, and because 
  of this, the forfeiture action may be filed before 
  indictment, after indictment, or even if there is no 
  indictment. Likewise, civil forfeiture may be sought in 
  cases in which the owner is criminally acquitted of the 
  underlying crimes ...

  — Craig Gaumer, Assistant United States Attorney, 2007[20]