mortmain means the perpetual, inalienable possession of lands by a corporation or non-personal entity such as a church. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 84 out of 100.
mortmain is pronounced /ˈmɔːt.meɪn/.
Why “mortmain” is a great word
The perpetual, inalienable ownership of lands or property held by a corporation or ecclesiastical institution. From Anglo-Norman mortmayn, from Old French mortes meins, after the Late Latin phrase mortua manus, from Latin mortuus ("dead") + manus ("hand"). Unlike "fee simple," which denotes an individual's complete and transferable estate, or "alienation," the act of transferring title, mortmain is a state of legal petrification. It is the cold, eternal grip of the abbey on the meadow, the unbroken leasehold of a monastic grange across centuries, and the immutable ledger entry that outlasts dynasties—property removed from the warm circulation of human life, held forever in a hand that does not age.
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman mortmayn, morte meyn, from Old French mortes meins, after Late Latin phrase mortua manus. See Latin mortuus (“dead”) + manus (“hand”).
noun
- 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 […]”
- A strong and inalienable possession.“[…]; 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, […]”
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