Mortmain

WOTD - 15 June 2009    

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Template:Xno[[Category:Template:Xno derivations|Mortmain]] mortmayn, morte meyn, from Old French mortes meins, after Late Latin phrase mortua manus. See Latin mors ("dead") + manus ("hand").

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈmɔːt.meɪn/
• (US) IPA: /ˈmɔɹt.meɪn/

Noun

Singular Mortmain

Plural {{{1}}}

Mortmain ({{{1}}})

1. (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 Template:... to grant sell alien and convey in mortmain unto and to the use of the said Society and their successors Template:...

   • 1900, Frederic William Maitland, "The Corporation Sole", Law Quarterly Review, v. 16,

     Though in truth it was the law of mortmain Template:... which originally sent the founders of chantries to seek the king's licence Template:...

2. (literary) A strong and inalienable possession.
   • 1770, Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Present Discontents, and Speeches,

     Template:...; 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, Template:...

Translations

inalienable possession of lands

Czech: nezcizitelný cs(cs) pozemek cs(cs) m. Italian: manomorta it(it) f.

Serbian: метох sr(sr) m.

Anagrams

• aimmnort,
• marmiton

et:mortmain io:mortmain te:mortmain vi:mortmain zh:mortmain