Definition
A writ in old English law that issued when land granted in perpetual alms — to a lay religious house, an abbot and convent, or the warden or master of a hospital and its convent — was subsequently alienated contrary to the terms of the original grant. The grant typically obligated the recipient institution to perform specific duties: maintaining poor persons, conducting divine service, or fulfilling other pious purposes. When the land was alienated in violation of those conditions, the donor or the donor's heirs could bring this writ to recover it. The name translates roughly as "against the form of the grant" or "contrary to the terms of the bestowal."
The writ was remedial in nature — it gave the grantor's line a mechanism to claw back property that had left the control of the charitable or religious body to whom it was entrusted for a specific purpose. The underlying principle is that the alienation defeated the eleemosynary intent of the original conveyance and caused harm ("disherison") to the house, church, or hospital that depended on the land to fulfill its obligations.
Common Confusion
CONTRA FORMAM COLLATIONIS vs. MORTMAIN STATUTES: Both concepts regulate the relationship between land and religious or charitable institutions, but they operate in opposite directions. Mortmain statutes restricted the ability of institutions to acquire land. Contra formam collationis was a remedy that protected land already granted for religious or charitable purposes from being improperly alienated away from those institutions. Researchers encountering either concept in historical records should be careful not to conflate the protective function of this writ with the restrictive function of mortmain legislation.
CONTRA FORMAM COLLATIONIS vs. CESSAVIT: Another writ sometimes confused with this one in old pleading records, cessavit lay where a tenant holding by divine service ceased performance for two years. Contra formam collationis targeted alienation of the land itself contrary to grant terms, not mere cessation of service obligations. The factual trigger is distinct even though both writs concerned land held for religious or charitable purposes.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in pre-modern English legal sources — plea rolls, register of writs compilations, and treatises on real property actions from the medieval and early modern periods. Researchers working in those sources should note several navigational points.
The writ is listed in the Registrum Omnium Brevium (Register of Writs), which Black's cites as "Reg. O" — the standard abbreviation used in older English legal dictionaries and treatises. Any research into the mechanics of this writ should begin there rather than in reported case law, as the writ's practical operation was largely defined by its form in the Register rather than by judicial elaboration in the Year Books.
The term does not translate meaningfully into modern American law. No U.S. analog exists. Researchers encountering it in historical chain-of-title documents, ecclesiastical records, or English real property pleadings should treat it as a terminus of historical research rather than a bridge to current doctrine.
The phrase "contra formam" appears in other legal Latin compounds (most notably in criminal indictments: "contra formam statuti," against the form of the statute). Do not assume that any instance of "contra formam" in a historical source refers to this writ. Context — specifically the presence of charitable or religious land tenure — is necessary to identify a reference to contra formam collationis.
"Collationis" derives from collatio, meaning a bestowal or conferral, particularly in an ecclesiastical context. This ecclesiastical sense of the root word is important: the writ applied specifically to lands given in a formal act of religious endowment, not to ordinary conveyances.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary is the sole source dictionary for this entry. Its definition is brief but complete for its purposes: it identifies the triggering condition (alienation of alms-land contrary to grant terms), the class of institutions protected (lay religious houses, abbeys and convents, hospitals and their convents), the harm recognized (disherison of the house and church), and the remedy available (recovery of the land by the donor or heirs). Black's points directly to the Registrum Omnium Brevium as the authority, which is consistent with the writ's character as a formal register action rather than a common-law doctrine developed through reported decisions.
Historical dictionaries more generally — Tomlin's, Bouvier's, and Jacob's Law Dictionary — address allied concepts (mortmain, cessavit, eleemosynary) but do not always give separate treatment to contra formam collationis as a distinct entry, reflecting its relative obscurity even within the specialized domain of old English real actions. Researchers should not expect rich cross-referencing in older American legal dictionaries, as the writ had no reception in colonial or post-independence American law.
Jurisdictional Note
This writ is exclusively a product of English law and has no recognized equivalent in American, Scottish, or Irish common law jurisdictions. Its relevance today is confined to historical legal research, particularly in the context of medieval and early modern English ecclesiastical and real property records.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Writs (historical forms and the Register of Writs)
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Mortmain and Ecclesiastical Land Tenure
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Eleemosynary Institutions and Charitable Endowments