escheat

American  

[es-cheet] / ɛsˈtʃit /

noun

1. 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.

2. the right to take property subject to escheat.

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verb (used without object)

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

verb (used with object)

1. to make an escheat of; confiscate.

escheat British  

/ ɪsˈtʃiːt /

noun

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

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

3. the property so reverting

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verb

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

Other Word Forms

• escheatable adjective
• escheatage noun
• unescheatable adjective
• unescheated adjective

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

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

Spurred by the distant glint of a $34,000 commission on the $160,000, Prospectors Edelman & Creskoff went sluicing up the creeks of other Pennsylvania escheat tributaries.

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

Nevertheless, the lord is entitled to escheat in the event of failure of heirs, just as if the land had not been enfranchised.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 "Convention" to "Copyright" by Various