Escheat

n. [O. Eng. eschete, O. Fr. eschet, a thing fallen to, strictly equivalent to eschot, third pers. sing. p. of escheoir (N. Fr. échoir), to fall to, to fall to the lot of, from cheoir, now choir, to fall, from Lat. cadere.]

1Sense 1. (Law.) (a.) (Feud. & Eng. Law.) The reverting or resulting back of lands, by some casualty or accident, to the lord of the fee, in consequence of the extinction of the blood of the tenant, which may happen by his dying without heirs, or by corruption of blood. Tomlins. Blackstone. (b.) (U. S. Law.) The falling or reverting of real property to the State, as original and ultimate proprietor, by reason of a failure of persons legally entitled to hold the same.

☞ A distinction is carefully made, by English writers, between escheat to the lord of the fee and forfeiture to the crown. But in this country, where the State holds the place of chief lord of the fee, and is entitled to take alike by escheat and by forfeiture, this distinction is not essential. Tomlins. Kent.

(c.) A writ, now abolished, to recover escheats from the person in possession. Blackstone.

2Sense 2. The lands which fall to the lord or state by escheat.

3Sense 3. That which falls to one; a reversion or return.

To make me great by others’ loss is bad escheat. Spenser.