hereditament

American  

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

noun

Law.

1. any inheritable estate or interest in property.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of hereditament

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

Example Sentences

In legal language, it was an incorporeal hereditament.

From The Theory of Social Revolutions by Adams, Brooks

He concluded that it must be an ancestral hereditament from Athens, Ohio.

From By Advice of Counsel by Train, Arthur Cheney

An example of a corporeal hereditament is land held in freehold, of incorporeal hereditaments, tithes, advowsons, pensions, annuities, rents, franchises, &c.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various

His Southern hereditament of chivalry, his compassion for the oppressed and his defence of the down-trodden, were never in abeyance from the beginning of his career to the very end.

From Mark Twain by Henderson, Archibald

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