mortmain

English

WOTD – 15 June 2009

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman mortmayn, morte meyn, from Old French mortes meins, after Late Latin phrase mortua manus. See Latin mortuus (“dead”) + manus (“hand”).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔːt.meɪn/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔɹt.meɪn/
Audio (UK) (file)

Noun

mortmain (usually uncountable, plural mortmains)

(law) The perpetual, inalienable possession of lands by a corporation or non-personal entity such as a church.
- 1824, Charter of Incorporation of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland,
  [W]e do hereby grant our especial license and authority unto all and every person […] to grant sell alien and convey in mortmain unto and to the use of the said Society and their successors […]
- 1900, The Corporation Sole, “Law Quarterly Review”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 16:
  Though in truth it was the law of mortmain […] which originally sent the founders of chantries to seek the king's licence […]
(literary) A strong and inalienable possession.
- 1770, Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Present Discontents, and Speeches,
  […] ; and some part of that influence [of the government], which would otherwise have been possessed as in a sort of mortmain and unalienable domain, returned again to the great ocean from whence it arose, […]

Translations

inalienable possession of lands

Czech: nezcizitelný (cs) pozemek (cs) m
French: mainmorte (fr) f
Italian: manomorta f
Serbo-Croatian: метох m

Anagrams

marmiton