escheat
verbEtymology From Middle English escheat, achete, eschete (“the reversion or conversion of property to the government”), from Anglo-Norman eschete and Old French eschet, escheit, escheoit (“that which falls to one”), past participle of escheoir (“to fall”) (modern French échoir), from Late Latin *excadēre (“fall away, fall out”), from (Latin) ex- + cadere (“fall”). Doublet of cheat.
1
To put (land, property) in escheat; to confiscate.
- Arms are very rigidly controlled in Scotland by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. […] Under an Act of 1592, Lyon King of Arms can escheat to the Sovereign all goods unlawfully displaying arms.1956 July, Col. H. C. B. Rogers, “Railway Heraldry”, in Railway Magazine, page 477:
- Failure to perform duties opened the culprit to charges of ‘felony’ (felonia), providing grounds for the king to escheat the fief.2016, Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, Penguin, published 2017, page 329:
2
To revert, convert, or vest ownership to the government or lord because its previous owner died without an heir or a business closed and no one claims the assets.
- Derived terms
- cheater, escheatable, escheatage, unescheated
- Related terms
- escheatery, escheator, escheatment, bona vacantia