noun
definition
The perpetual, inalienable possession of lands by a corporation or non-personal entity such as a church.
definition
A strong and inalienable possession.
Examples of mortmain in a Sentence
This was St Bernard's College, founded by Chicheley under licence in mortmain in 1437 for Cistercian monks, on the model of Gloucester Hall and Durham College for the southern and northern Benedictines.
With regard to the land and the services due therefrom a beginning was made of the policy which culminated in the statutes of Mortmain and of Quia Emptores.
In the early middle ages the term was applied to representatives of a count administering justice for him in the country or small towns and dealing with unimportant cases, levying taxes, &c. Monasteries and religious houses often employed a vicar to answer to their feudal lords for those of their lands which did not pass into mortmain.
The province declined in wealth and population during the 18th and 19th centuries, a result due less to the want of activity on the part of the inhabitants than to the oppressive manorial and feudal rights and the strict laws of entail and mortmain, which acted as barriers to progress.
On the 30th of June he obtained licence in mortmain and on the 26th of November issued his charter of foundation of "Seynt Marie College of Wynchestre in Oxenford" for a warden and 70 scholars to study theology, canon and civil law and arts, who were temporarily housed in various old halls.
On the 6th of October 1382 the crown licence in mortmain was issued, on the loth-13th of October the site was conveyed, and on the 20th of October 1382 "Sancte Marie collegium" or in vulgar tongue "Seinte Marie College of Wynchestre by Wynchestre" was founded for a warden and "70 pore and needy scholars studying and becoming proficient in grammaticals or the art and science of grammar."
The council may borrow money for the erection of such buildings; they may acquire and hold land in mortmain by virtue of their charter, or with the consent of the Local Government Board.
Then he took the offensive himself, by persuading his parliament to pass the Statute of Mortmain (de religiosis).
This was the purely political feeling against the tyranny of the papacy, and the abuses of the national church, which in early ages had given supporters to William the Conqueror and Henry II., which had dictated the statutes of Mortmain and of Praemunire.
His reforms in church matters made a great stir at the time, for he curbed the power of the clergy, suppressed some religious houses, reduced the mortmain and rejected papal interference.
On the 6th of May 1448 he obtained licence in mortmain and on the 10th of August founded at Oxford "for the extirpation of heresies and errors, the increase of the clerical order and the adornment of holy mother church, a perpetual hall, called Seint Marie Maudeleyn Halle, for study in the sciences of sacred theology and philosophy," to consist of a president and 50 scholars.
In spite of provisions somewhat parallel to those of the English statute of mortmain, the clergy continued to acquire fresh lands at the same time that they refused to contribute to the defence of the kingdom, and rigorously exacted the full quota of tithe from every source which they could tap, and even from booty captured in war.
In the spirit of his age he denounced the relics of medieval institutions, such as entails and tenures in mortmain.
The council is a body corporate, may hold land in mortmain, and can appoint committees for its own parish or jointly with any other parish council.
The Statute of Mortmain forbade any man to alienate land to the church without royal licence.