escheat
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.
to revert by escheat, as to the crown or the state.
to make an escheat of; confiscate.
Origin of escheat
1Other words from escheat
- es·cheat·a·ble, adjective
- un·es·cheat·a·ble, adjective
- un·es·cheat·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use escheat in a sentence
You have forfeited your estates, and it is just to raise money by escheating your lands.
British Dictionary definitions for escheat
/ (ɪsˈtʃiːt) law /
(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
to take (land) by escheat or (of land) to revert by escheat
Origin of escheat
1Derived forms of escheat
- escheatable, adjective
- escheatage, noun
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
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