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MORTMAIN [1 record]

Record 1 2013-04-15

English

Subject field(s)
  • PAJLO
  • Property Law (common law)
DEF

(S)uch a state of possession of land as makes it inalienable; whence it is said to be in a dead hand - in a hand that cannot shift away the property. It takes place upon alienation to any corporation, sole or aggregate, ecclesiastical or temporal. (Jowitt, 2nd ed., 1977, p. 1206)

OBS

Historically, the word "mortmain" is derived from the Norman-French meaning a "dead hand" because, said Coke, "the lands were said to come to dead hands as to the lords, for that by alienation in mortmaine they lost wholly their escheats, and in effect their knights-services for the defence of the realms, wards, marriages, reliefs, and the like; and therefore was called a dead hand, for that a dead hand yieldeth no service. (Anger & Honsberger, 2nd ed., 1985, p. 1489)

French

Domaine(s)
  • PAJLO
  • Droit des biens et de la propriété (common law)
OBS

mainmorte : terme normalisé par le Comité de normalisation dans le cadre du Programme national de l'administration de la justice dans les deux langues officielles (PAJLO).

Spanish

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