0 a situation in which property or money becomes the property of the state if the owner dies without a will (= an official statement of what should happen to their property) and without legal heirs (= a person who can receive property or money from someone who dies):
1 property or money for which no owner can be found and for that reason becomes the property of the state:
Other sources of income were zakat, customs, salt tax, khums, mint, currency, jiziya, escheats, presents, octroi, tolls and tributes.
An escheat of the land (a reclamation of the land by the overlord) would allow the owner to take control of the land.
Instead of enjoying the land by escheat, he will only receive a trifling rent.
Malden reveals the legal term then used, one still used today, escheat.
Specific exceptions to the general rule of federal preemption exist such as some contract law, escheat law, and insurance law.
Since disavowal of a feudal bond was considered a felony, lords could escheat land from those who refused to be true to their feudal services.
It was not a form of escheat, which was an extinguishment of a tenure.
The castle fell into escheat during the 19th century.
