mortmain noun. ['mɔ:tmeɪn] LME.
[Anglo-Norman & Old French mortemain from medieval Latin mortua manus dead hand, from fem. of Latin mortuus dead + manus hand, prob. with allus. to impers. ownership.]
Law (now Hist.).
1. The condition of lands or tenements held inalienably by an ecclesiastical or other corporation; lands or tenements so held. LME.
fig.:
■ G. Greene Catholics are always said to be freed in the confessional from the mortmain of the past.

2. A licence of mortmain, conveying the monarch's permission to vest property in a corporation. M16-M17.

Comb.:
mortmain act any of several acts imposing restrictions on the devising of property to charitable use, esp. that of 1736.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲