Escheat - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition escheat

Definition :

Escheat [eschet or echet, formed from the word eschoir or echoir, Fr., to happen], a species of reversion; it is a fruit of seigniory, the Crown or lord of the fee, from whom or from whose ancestor the estate was originally derived, taking it as ultimus h'res upon the failure, natural or legal, of the intestate tenant's family.

Escheat to the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster, the Duke of Cornwall and to mesne lords has been abolished by (English) Administration of Estates Act, 1925, s. 45(1). The right of the Crown to 'bona vacantia' now includes real property under (English) A.E. Act, 1925, s. 46. See BONA VACAN-TIA.

The title of the Crown was ascertained by inquiry regulated by rules under the (English) Escheat Procedure Act, 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 53), which repealed, as practically inoperative, the numerous statutes from 29 Edw. 1, by which officers called 'escheators' were authorized to hold such inquiries.

If differed from a forfeiture [now abolished for treason or felony by the (English) Forfeiture Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23)], in that the latter is a penalty for a crime personal to the offender, of which the Crown is entitled to take advantage by virtue of its prerogative; while an escheat results from tenure only, and arises from an obstruction in the course of descent; it originates in feudalism, and respects the intestate's succession. So, while forfeiture affects the rents and profits only, escheat operates on the inheritance.

Escheat arose then, from default of heirs, when the tenant died without any lawful and natural born relations on the part of any of his ancestors, or when he died without any lawful and natural-born relations on the part of those ancestors from whom the estate descended, or where the intestate tenant, having been a bastard, did not leave any lineal descendants, since he cannot have any collateral descendants.

By the (English) Intestates Estate Act, 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. 71), s. 4, now repealed in regard to successions after 1935 by the (English) A.E. Act, 1925, s. 56, it was provided that equitable estates and estates in incorporeal hereditaments (which prior to that Act did not escheat) shall be subject to the same law of escheat as legal estates in corporeal hereditaments.

The (English) Intestates Estates Act, 1884, also, by s. 6, now repealed by the (English) A.E. Act, 1925, provided for the waiver by the Crown of its right by escheat in favour of the family of the intestate, or of any person considered or adopted as part of his family, as pointed out by 59 Geo. 4, c. 94. See Hubback on Succession, ch. iv.

The (English) Land Transfer Act, 1897 (60 & 61 Vict. c. 65), did not bind the Crown (Re Hartleg, 1899, P. 40); nor were the rights of the Crown affected by a sale under the powers of the (English) Settled Land Acts [Re Bond, (1901) 1 Ch 15]. But the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duke of Cornwall are now bound by the (English) A.E. Act, 1925, s. 57, without altering any period of limitation and preserving the rights by descent of his Majesty in right of the Crown, of the Duchy of Lancaster, or belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall.

Eschaeta derivatur a verbo Gallico eschoir, quod est accidere, quia accidit domino ex eventu et ex insperato. Co. Litt. 93.'(Escheat is derived from the French word eschoir, which signifies 'to happen,' because it falls to the lord from an event and from an unforeseen circumstance.)

Escheat literally means 'to revert to the State'. This event takes place in default of heirs or devisees. Under the old feudal system, If the person to whom the property was let out or who was in possession of that property, had died intestate or without leaving any heir, the property would revert to the landlord or Zamindar, but if there was no landlord or intermediary, the property would vest in the State or, during the British Days, in the Crown (king), Sheo Nand v. Dy. Director of Consolidation, AIR 2000 SC 1141 (1144): (2000) 3 SCC 103.

Literally means 'to revert to the State', A.G. of Ontario v. Mercer, (1883) 8 AC 767: 53 LJPC 84: 49 LT 312 (PC); see also Sheo Nand v. Deputy Director of Consolidation, (2000) 3 SCC 103.

The reversion of land ownership back to the cord when the immediate tenant dies without heirs, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn.

In India, any property accruing by escheat, vests in the States or the Union (Constitution of India, Art. 296).

In feudal law, the determination of the tenure or dissolution of the bond between lord and tenant from extinction of the blood of the latter by natural or civil means, A Dictionary of Law, William C. Anderson, 1889, p. 413.

Is the reverting of property (in England), or to the Government (in the United States) when there are no legal heirs, Webster American Dictionary, p. 395.

In feudal law, the determination of the tenure or dissolution of the bond between lord and tenant from extinction of the blood of the latter by natural or civil means, Constitution of India, Art. 296.