Definition
EN MORT MEYNE (Law French; Latin: in mortua manu) means "in a dead hand" — the condition of land held by a corporation, religious body, or other perpetual entity incapable of performing the feudal obligations attached to land tenure. Land held en mort meyne was said to be in "mortmain" because it passed to no heir, escheated to no lord, and generated none of the incidents of tenure — relief, wardship, marriage — that a living feudal tenant would owe. The phrase is the Law French equivalent of the Latin in mortua manu and is used interchangeably with MORTMAIN in historical legal sources.
Common Confusion
EN MORT MEYNE and MORTMAIN are the same concept expressed in different languages, not distinct doctrines. Researchers encountering one term should search under both. A related but distinguishable concept is ESCHEAT, which describes what happens when land reverts to the lord or crown for want of heirs — a related consequence of the mortmain problem but a separate legal event. Do not confuse either with EMINENT DOMAIN, which involves compelled transfer of land for public use and has no connection to feudal tenure incidents.
Why It Matters in Research
This term functions almost exclusively as a cross-reference marker in historical sources. You are unlikely to encounter EN MORT MEYNE as operative language in a case or statute; instead, it appears in treatises and dictionaries directing readers toward MORTMAIN as the working concept. When researching in the Law Mind corpus, treat EN MORT MEYNE as a linguistic gateway: its presence signals feudal tenure doctrine, ecclesiastical land law, and the statutes of mortmain (principally the English Statute of Mortmain, 1279, and the Statute of 1736).
Two research traps are worth noting. First, the Law French form may not appear in indexes where only the Latin or anglicized form is used — searching only "en mort meyne" will underperform searching "mortmain" or "in mortua manu." Second, the term carries no independent technical content beyond its translation; its legal substance lives entirely in the MORTMAIN doctrine. A researcher who encounters it in a medieval or early modern source and moves directly to MORTMAIN will not miss anything substantive.
Jurisdictional carry-over matters here. English mortmain doctrine was received into American colonial law but was significantly modified or abolished in most states after independence, as the ecclesiastical and feudal rationale for the rule had little purchase in the new republic. Some American states retained charitable corporation restrictions that echo mortmain principles into the nineteenth century and beyond, but the term EN MORT MEYNE itself does not appear in American case law with any frequency. In the Law Mind corpus, expect to find it in English common law treatises and dictionaries, not in American judicial opinions.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries — Black's (1st and 2nd editions) and Burrill — give identical entries: the Law French phrase, its Latin equivalent (in mortua manu, supplied by Burrill), its English translation ("in a dead hand; in mortmain"), and a citation to Britton, chapter 43. The uniformity reflects the term's character: it is a translation entry, not a developed doctrinal heading. No source attempts to define the legal doctrine here; all three treat EN MORT MEYNE as a pointer to the fuller MORTMAIN analysis.
Burrill adds value by explicitly supplying the Latin parallel, which is useful for researchers working across Latin and Law French sources and needing to recognize both forms. The citation to Britton (c. 43) is consistent across all three dictionaries and refers to the thirteenth-century English legal treatise attributed to John Britton, an early authority on mortmain doctrine. Researchers relying on historical dictionaries alone will need to follow the cross-reference to MORTMAIN to find substantive doctrine, as no source provides it under this heading.
Jurisdictional Note
EN MORT MEYNE as a term of art is exclusively a feature of English common law and its direct derivatives. American legal materials rarely use the phrase; American mortmain-adjacent doctrine appears under state statutory schemes governing charitable corporations and devises, without the Law French terminology. Researchers working in civil law jurisdictions will find no cognate usage.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: MORTMAIN