escheat

[ es-cheet ]

/ ɛsˈtʃit /

Law.

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noun

Also es·cheat·ment . 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.

the right to take property subject to escheat.

verb (used without object)

to revert by escheat, as to the crown or the state.

verb (used with object)

to make an escheat of; confiscate.

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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 )

OTHER WORDS FROM escheat

es·cheat·a·ble, adjectiveun·es·cheat·a·ble, adjectiveun·es·cheat·ed, adjective

Words nearby escheat

eschar, escharotic, eschatological, eschatology, eschaton, escheat, escheatage, escheatment, escheator, Escher, Escher figure

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use escheat in a sentence

They therefore reported that there should be no escheat of the original grants for non-performance of conditions as to settlement.
History of Prince Edward Island|Duncan Campbell
In case a master died without lawful heirs, his slaves did not escheat, but were regarded as other personal estate or property.
History of the Negro Race in America From 1619 to 1880. Vol 1|George W. Williams
The same vagueness enshrouds the infancy of the escheat propter defectum tenentis.
Domesday Book and Beyond|Frederic William Maitland
The burghers power of devising his land made escheat a rare event, and so destroyed the evidence of mesne tenure.
Domesday Book and Beyond|Frederic William Maitland

The estate would escheat to the king, Hanoverian or Scotchman, before it came to me.
The Two Admirals|J. Fenimore Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for escheat

escheat

/ (ɪsˈtʃiːt) law /

noun

(in England before 1926) the reversion of property to the Crown in the absence of legal heirs

(in feudal times) the reversion of property to the feudal lord in the absence of legal heirs or upon outlawry of the tenant

the property so reverting

verb

to take (land) by escheat or (of land) to revert by escheat

Derived forms of escheat

escheatable, adjectiveescheatage, noun

Word Origin for escheat

C14: from Old French eschete, from escheoir to fall to the lot of, from Late Latin excadere (unattested), from Latin cadere to fall

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012