Word Direct Answers

escheat

escheat is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 4 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.Lands which fall to the lord or the State by escheat.
  2. 2.That which falls to one; a reversion or return To make me great by others' loss is bad escheat. Spenser.
  3. 3.To revert, or become forfeited, to the lord, the crown, or the State, as lands by the failure of persons entitled to hold the same, or by forfeiture. Note: In this country it is the general rule that when the title to land fails by defect of heirs or devisees, it necessarily escheats to the State; but forfeiture of estate from crime is hardly known in this country, and corruption of blood is universally abolished. Kent. Bouvier.
  4. 4.To forfeit. Bp. Hall.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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