This word is acceptable for play in the US & UK dictionaries that are being used in the following games:

• Lexulous
• Wordscraper
• Wordosaur

n. Law Perpetual ownership of real estate by institutions such as churches that cannot transfer or sell it.

n. The often oppressive influence of the past on the present.

n. The perpetual, inalienable possession of lands by a corporation or non-personal entity such as a church.

n. A strong and inalienable possession.

n. Possession of lands or tenements in, or conveyance to, dead hands, or hands that cannot alienate.

n. In law, possession of lands or tenements in dead hands, or hands that cannot alienate, as those of ecclesiastical corporations; unalienable possession.

n. real property held inalienably (as by an ecclesiastical corporation)

n. the oppressive influence of past events or decisions

"On the last occasion the king ennobled him, As prime minister he was most zealous in establishing the supremacy of the State over the Church, and in abolishing the privileges of the nobility together with feudalism, He restricted the jurisdiction of the bishops, impeded the last increment of the so-called mortmain, and reduced the taxes belonging to the chancery of the Roman Curia."

realty    real estate    real property    immovable    influence   

statutes of mortmain    mortmain act    alienation in mortmain   

waqf    peonage    elfland    emptores    bylaws    draftsmanship    country-people    disestablishment    sirrah    officialdom