▪ I. escheat, n.
(ɛsˈtʃiːt)
Forms: 4–7 eschet(e, (4 echete, escheyte, 5 eshete, eþchete), 5–7 escheate, 6–7 Sc. escheit(te, 6–7 excheat(e, -chete, 6– escheat. See also cheat n.
[ME. eschete, a. OF. eschete, eschaete, escheoite, n. of action (orig. fem. pa. pple), f. OF. escheoir (mod.F. échoir):—late L. *excadēre (class. L. excidĕre) to fall to a person's share, f. L. ex out + cadĕre (vulg. L. cadēre, OF. cheoir) to fall. In continental OF. the n. meant succession, inheritance, esp. collateral inheritance; in England the etymological sense received a different application. As in many other words (cf. exchange) the prefix es- was in the 16–17th c. often replaced by ex- after L. analogies.]
I. Law.
1. An ‘incident’ of feudal law, whereby a fief reverted to the lord when the tenant died without leaving a successor qualified to inherit under the original grant. Hence, the lapsing of land to the Crown (in U.S., to the state), or to the lord of the manor, on the death of the owner intestate without heirs.
As an attainted person, according to the doctrine of ‘corruption of blood’ (see attainder), could have no legal heir, his property suffered escheat. This ‘escheat by corruption of blood’, theoretically distinct from the ‘forfeiture’ inflicted as a penalty for treason and felony, was abolished together with the latter by the Felony Act, 1870.
| [1292 Britton 69 Queus demeynes nous tenoms..de eschete et de purchaz.] c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 307 Many londis schulde falle into þe kyngis [hondis] bi eschet. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 2190 A rich erle-dam..to him of Eshete late cam. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 77 By Eschetes, ther may not so mich Land fall to any Man as to the Kyng by cause no man hath so many lordshippes as he. 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 977/1 Swering a mans death, and winning a mans lande by eschete. 1649 Selden Laws Eng. i. lxiv. (1739) 130 He forbad the study of the Law, that so it might die without heir, and he have all by Escheat. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. ii. vi. 69 Escheats are equally incident to tenure in socage. a 1862 Buckle Misc. Wks. (1872) I. 353 Escheats were frequent in England, because there was no power of willing away land. |
| transf. 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) III. 183 The right did revert by escheat to the people upon the great change. |
b. In Scotland in wider sense, including: Confiscation or forfeiture of property, real or personal. simple escheat: the absolute forfeiture of a person's estate; opposed to liferent escheat, the forfeiture of the profits accruing during his lifetime.
| 1457 Sc. Acts Jas. II (1597) §71 That na woman cum to kirk..with hir face mussalled, or covered that scho may not be kend, vndir the pane of escheit of the courchie. |
2. concr. Property, real or personal, falling by escheat to the lord, king, or state. In quot. 1330 eschete may be pa. pple.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 244 Ilk castelle and toure To þe kyng is eschete, als to chefe of alle. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. v. 169 Thorȝ ȝoure lawe, ich leyue ich lese menye escheytes. 1474 Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. 11 The eschaeatis..of thaim that [wer] at the slauchter of Thome of Prestone. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1073/2 As well in prouiding excheats and wards for their children and kinsfolks. 1600 Holland Livy 39 Suffering himselfe and all that he had to fall into the king's hands as an escheat. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 37 Such as is put to the horn for Ministers stipends, their escheits shalbe uplifted. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 41 Escheats for want of heirs have been mentioned as being his [the King's]. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. xiii. 607 Not even the tenants of a great escheat in the royal hands escaped the obligation. |
| transf. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. viii. 16 To leave to him that lady for excheat. |
† b. collect. The fund or possession formed by escheated estates. Obs.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 247 Þe dettes þat men þam auht..Wer taxed & bitauht to þe eschete of þe kyng. |
3. The right of appropriating property subject to escheat.
| 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 496 But as touching the Lande, he shall neither have the Eschete of it. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 3 The Baron sall haue the escheit of the gudes pertening to the malefactor. 1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy i. 18 Reversions, services, annuities..views of frank⁓pledge, escheats, etc. 1844 Williams Real Prop. (1877) 127 A right of escheat seldom accruing. |
† 4. A writ (AF. bref de eschaete) now abolished, to recover escheats from the person in possession.
| [1292 Britton 54 Voloms nous qe teles alienaunces soint repellables par les chiefs seignurs des feez par nos brefs de Eschaete.] 1672 in J. Cowell Interpr. s.v. Eschete, Escheat is used for a Writ which lyeth, where the Tenant having Estate in Fee-simple in any Lands or Tenements holden of a superior Lord, dyeth seised without Heir general or special. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg., Sir Rupert, Away went ‘cognovits,’ ‘bills,’ ‘bonds,’ and ‘escheats.’ |
† 5. (See quots.) Obs.
| 1672 J. Cowell Interpr. s.v. Eschete, Escheat is also used sometimes for the Place or Circuit within which the King, or other Lord hath Escheats of his Tenants. 1736 in Bailey. 1751 in Chambers Cycl.; and in mod. Dicts. |
II. 6. The levying of contributions, plunder; concr. in pl. booty, spoil. Cf. cheat 2.
| 1577–87 Harrison Descr. Brit. x. 37 in Holinshed, For their wares, whereof they [pirates] make good peniworths, as theeves commonlie doo of such pieces as they get by like Escheat. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. v. 25 To make one great by others losse is bad excheat. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcel. xxvi. viii. 299 Commanded the house of Arbetio, full (as it was) by reason of those inestimable escheats..to be rifled and ransacked cleane. |
▪ II. escheat, v.
(ɛsˈtʃiːt)
Forms: see the n. pa. pple. Sc. 6 escheit, 8–9 escheat. (See also cheat v.)
[f. prec. n.; cf. OF. eschaeter.]
1. trans. To make an escheat of, confiscate; to hand over as an escheat to or into. (Some apparent examples of the pass. may belong to the intr. sense 2.)
| 1382 Wyclif 3 Esdras vi. 32 And the goodis ofhem to the king be eschetid [1388 ethchetid]. 1474 Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. 67 His schip and gudis..was eschetit as the kings eschete. 1548 Bodrugan (Adams) Epit. King's Title 251 Locrine herupon seazed Albania..as excheated wholy to hymself. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 12 a, If it [lande] be escheted unto the king. 1641 A. Mervin in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 216 Their Primitive and Genuine Tenures escheated by Acts of State, and strangled by Monopolies. 1687 Assur. Abb. Lands 40 It was the Opinion of the Justices that they were Escheated to the Lords of the Fee. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) V. ix. v. 275 He..escheated their estates into the hands of laymen. 1873 Dixon Two Queens vi. ix, His honours lost, his lands escheated, and his liberty restrained. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. v. xxviii. (1612) 141 And to his Coffres did escheate a world of wealth. a 1643 W. Cartwright On Christ Ch. Building, As doubtful whether 't should escheated be To ruine, or redeem'd to majesty. |
2. intr. To become an escheat; to revert by escheat to the superior lord, king, or state; const. to or simply. Also fig.
| 1531 Dial. Laws Eng. i. vii. (1638) 13 The land shall escheat to the Lord of whom the Land is holden. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 657/2 Landes..which should otherwise have escheated to her majestie. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. xiv. (1821) 639 His Land should haue excheated unto her. 1698 Sidney Disc. Gov. i. §19 (1704) 42 A Kingdom so gotten may escheat for want of an Heir. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. I. viii. 168 All baronies which escheated to the Crown were under his administration. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. I. 261 The property in case of intestacy should escheat to the state. |
| fig. 1850 H. Coleridge Poems II. 13 Great nature's waif, that must by law escheat To the liege-lord Corruption. |
† 3. trans. To forfeit. Sc. Obs.
| 1513–75 Diurn. Occur. (1833) 83 All thair movabill guidis decernit to be escheit, at the mercat croce of Edinburgh. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. lii, His shirt, his doublet, or bonet to excheate. 1752 J. Louthian Form of Process 151 All their moveable Goods and Gear, to be escheat and in-brought to his Majesty's Use. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxvi, His moveable goods and gear escheat..to his majesty's use. 1876 Grant Burgh Sch. Scotl. i. i. 49 In 1509 persons were prevented from importing..Books under penalty of escheating the same. |
¶ 4. Used (after Fr. échoir) for: To ‘fall’ to a person by inheritance.
| 1603 Florio Montaigne iii. ix. (1632) 541 Those that have beene hereditarily escheated unto them. |