mortmain

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the permanent and inalienable ownership of land or other property by a corporation, historically especially a church

   The statute restricted the transfer of estates into mortmain.

2. 2
   noun

   the controlling or oppressive influence of the past upon the present

   The reformers tried to free the institution from the mortmain of outdated rules.

From Anglo-French mortmain, literally "dead hand," from mort ("dead") + main ("hand"), ultimately from Latin mortuus and manus. Property held in mortmain was in a hand that never died and therefore did not pass to heirs; the figurative sense extends that image to the grip of the past.

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