Decree for Justifiable Confiscation

The Decree for Justifiable Confiscation is a law in wizarding Britain that gives the Ministry of Magic the right to confiscate the contents of a will if there is strong evidence that illegal items might be passed on in said will. The law was created to prevent wizards and witches from passing on Dark artifacts. It allows the Ministry to inspect the deceased's possessions for thirty-one days, after which they must carry out the will if no Dark items are found.

It was under this decree that Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour confiscated the contents of Albus Dumbledore's Albus Dumbledore's will in 1997. As the Ministry found no evidence of Dark magic, they were forced to carry out the will in late July. Scrimgeour came to the Burrow personally to speak to Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley and to give them the three items Dumbledore bequeathed them. He used the opportunity to interrogate them, suspicious that Dumbledore had hidden clues in the Golden Snitch, Deluminator, and copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard that he left them.