escheat
Americannoun
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Also escheatment the reverting of property to the state or some agency of the state, or, as in England, to the lord of the fee or to the crown, when there is a failure of persons legally qualified to inherit or to claim.
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the right to take property subject to escheat.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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(in England before 1926) the reversion of property to the Crown in the absence of legal heirs
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(in feudal times) the reversion of property to the feudal lord in the absence of legal heirs or upon outlawry of the tenant
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the property so reverting
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of escheat
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English eschete, exschete, from Old French eschete, eschaete, escheoite, feminine past participle of escheoir, from Vulgar Latin excadēre (unrecorded) “to fall to a person's share,” equivalent to Latin ex- ex- 1 + cadere “to fall” ( Vulgar Latin cadēre )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Under the English and Welsh legal system, the freehold is now subject to an unusual and ancient process known as "escheat".
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2024
Though "not entirely one of logic," said Black, Florida's escheat rule is easiest to apply and will save countless court fights in the future.
From Time Magazine Archive
The state in which it is located gets it through "escheat," a feudal doctrine by which the land of a man who died without heirs reverted to the original grantor, or lord of the manor.
From Time Magazine Archive
Most laymen and many lawyers think of escheat only when persons die without wills and heirs.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is French influence which has disguised it in such words as affray, amend, escape, escheat, essay, &c.—Ex- has a privative sense in ex-emperor, ex-mayor.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
For the endowment of favourites he had to rely, therefore, on windfalls from attainders and escheats.
From Sir Walter Ralegh A Biography by Stebbing, W. (William)
All escheats of private estates, but no public or general escheats.
From The American Republic : constitution, tendencies and destiny by Brownson, Orestes Augustus
Such as the quitrents, the money arising by the two shillings per hogshead, fort duties, the fines and forfeitures, and the profit of escheats and rights of land.
From The History of Virginia, in Four Parts by Beverley, Robert
"Názir al-Mawárís," the employé charged with the disposal of legacies and seizing escheats to the Crown when Moslems die intestate.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 12 [Supplement] by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
The Unionists without the State government, without any State organization, could not hold the domain, which, when the State organization is gone, escheats to the United States, that is to say, ceases to exist.
From The American Republic : constitution, tendencies and destiny by Brownson, Orestes Augustus
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
