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hereditament

American  
[her-i-dit-uh-muhnt] / ˌhɛr ɪˈdɪt ə mənt /

noun

Law.
  1. any inheritable estate or interest in property.


hereditament British  
/ ˌhɛrɪˈdɪtəmənt /

noun

  1. any kind of property capable of being inherited

  2. property that before 1926 passed to an heir if not otherwise disposed of by will

"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

Etymology

Origin of hereditament

1425–75; late Middle English < Medieval Latin hērēditāmentum, derivative of Late Latin hērēditāre. See hereditable, -ment

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.

English title in a pew is in the nature of a right of way through another's land; it is an incorporeal hereditament.

From The Clergyman's Hand-book of Law by Scanlan, Charles M.

That "disposition for hard hitting with a moral purpose to sanction it," which George Meredith pronounces the national disposition of British humour, is Mark Twain's unmistakable hereditament.

From Mark Twain by Henderson, Archibald

In legal language, it was an incorporeal hereditament.

From The Theory of Social Revolutions by Adams, Brooks

But that indigence which had prompted the knight to forsake his courtly country for the howling wilderness, was the only remaining hereditament left to his bedwindled descendants in the fourth and fifth remove.

From Pierre; or The Ambiguities by Melville, Herman

A franchise is an incorporeal hereditament, and arises either from royal grants or from prescription which presupposes a grant.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 8 "France" to "Francis Joseph I." by Various

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