mortmain

A legal arrangement in which a property owner such as an ecclesiastical institution is barred from transferring or selling its property.

In law, possession of lands or tenements in dead hands, or hands that cannot alienate, as those of ecclesiastical corporations; unalienable possession.

Possession of lands or tenements in, or conveyance to, dead hands, or hands that cannot alienate.

The perpetual, inalienable possession of lands by a corporation or non-personal entity such as a church.

A strong and inalienable possession.

real property held inalienably (as by an ecclesiastical corporation)

the oppressive influence of past events or decisions