A.Word.A.Day: mortmain

[Dave Monroe]

A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

mortmain

PRONUNCIATION: (MOHRT-mayn)

MEANING:
noun:
1. The perpetual ownership of property by institutions such as churches.
2. The often stifling influence of the past on the present and the living.

ETYMOLOGY:
>From Anglo-Norman mortmayn, feminine of morte (dead) + main (hand),
from Latin mortua manus (dead hand). Ultimately from the Indo-European
root man- (hand) that's also the source of manage, maintain, maneuver,
manufacture, manuscript, and command.

NOTES:
Imagine a B-movie scene of a dead hand stretching out of a grave and
you have the picture of the word mortmain. The idea behind mortmain is
of a dead hand reaching beyond to hold a property in perpetuity. By
extension, the word describes the past dictating the present in an
oppressive manner.

Unlike the passing of an asset to a child on the death of a parent,
institutions such as churches hold property forever. Over time,
through donations, etc., they can acquire a large amount of real
estate which cannot be distributed or revert to the crown. Also, in
such cases there is a loss of revenue from inheritance tax. The
English King Edward I passed the Statutes of Mortmain in 1279 and
again in 1290 to limit such holding of property in perpetuity without
royal authorization.

USAGE:
"On what grounds do we allow the dead to bind the living? Courts used
to adhere to a 'rule against perpetuities' and were suspicious of
mortmain, of the 'dead hand' of documents drawn up long ago."
Christopher Caldwell; Philanthropy Goes to the Dogs; Financial Times
(London, UK); Jul 5, 2008.

"Martins felt that somehow this knowledge would pay the mortmain that
memory levies on human beings."
Graham Greene; The Third Man; 1949.

Explore "mortmain" in the Visual Thesaurus.

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/landing/?ad=awad&utm_medium=default&utm_campaign=VT&utm_source=awad&w1=mortmain

http://wordsmith.org/words/mortmain.html