mortmain

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mortmain

Literally means “dead hand.”Originally referred to statutes passed in England in 1279 and 1290 to prevent transfers of property to the Church, which would keep the land in its “dead hand” forever and prevent the king from ever realizing any tax income from it. In modern times, mortmain statutes invalidated deathbed gifts to charities, upon the theory that the recipient may have been guilty of undue influence by promises of a rosy hereafter, making the gift suspicious. Today, most such statutes have been repealed. (Unhappy heirs wishing to contest last-minute charitable gifts may use the general theory of undue influence to make their case.)

References in periodicals archive ?

Asi podian sortear el decomiso por traicion, los procedimientos feudales de la tutela de menores y del matrimonio, las demandas de los acreedores y el Statute of Mortmain.

Perspectiva canonica del trust

feeling--grounded not only in mortmain but also in the traditional

The first disestablishment: limits on church power and property before the Civil War

matter (the Mortmain Bill), and toothless (if well remembered) they must

Gothic poetry in Scotland: the Ghaistly eighteenth century

While Simon later shows an appreciation for the history and traditions of the English countryside, his attitude to Mortmain's work allies both Mortmain and himself with the progressive, the cutting-edge, and the forward-looking.

Realism, modernism, and the representation of memory in Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle

Life alters drastically when American brothers Simon and Neil Cotton (Thomas and Blucas) inherit the crumbling estate on which the Mortmains live.

Culture: Castles and the heir; Damon Smith looks at the latest releases on DVD and video

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain (Garai) lives in a crumbling English castle with her novelist father James (BillNighy), nudist step-mother Topaz (Tara Fitz Gerald) and self-obsessed older sister Rose (Rose Byrne).

192: 101 REASONS TOLOVE THIS; Another hit for Dalmatians author I CAPTURE THE CASTLEHHHHI PG

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain (Garai) lives in a crumbling English castle with her novelist father James (Bill Nighy), nudist step-mother Topaz (Tara FitzGerald) and self-obsessed older sister Rose (Rose Byrne).

To rent

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain (Romola Garai) lives in a crumbling English castle with her novelist father James (Bill Nighy), nudist stepmother Topaz (Tara Fitzgerald) and self-obsessed older sister Rose (Rose Byrne).

Popcorn: Videos and dvds to rent

Cassandra Mortmain, 17, (Garai) lives in a crumbling English castle with her novelist father James (Nighy), nudist step-mother Topaz (FitzGerald) and self-obsessed older sister Rose (Byrne).

It'll capture your heart

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain (Garai)lives in a crumbling English castle with her novelist father James (Nighy),nudist step-mother Topaz (FitzGerald) and self obsessed older sister Rose (Byrne).

Will our heroine get castle and the heir? BBC heads for Rome

The psychologically crippled father, Mortmain (the great Bill Nighy), wrote one great novel 10 years ago and has been holed up in his office ever since.

YOUNG STAR QUEEN OF THIS 'CASTLE'

Adapted from the novel by Dodie Smith, about the eccentric Mortmain family who are struggling to survive in a dilapidated castle in the 1930s, it cast her with Tara Fitzgerald, Bill Nighy and Sinead Cusack.

Dirty and flirty; QUEEN OF BRITISH PERIOD DRAMAS, ROMOLA GARAI ON THE DAY SHE RIPPED OFF HER CORSET FOR SOME DIRTY DANCING