noun
- plural of mortmain; the legal condition of lands or property held inalienably by an ecclesiastical or other corporation
Usage: legal; historical
Examples
- The monastery’s lands were held in mortmains for centuries.
- Medieval laws restricted the transfer of property into mortmains.
- The king sought to limit ecclesiastical mortmains through new statutes.
- These ancient mortmains prevented the free sale of vast estates.
- Legal reforms gradually reduced the power of mortmains over land ownership.