Escheat

n.	1.	(Law) The falling back or reversion of lands, by some casualty or accident, to the lord of the fee, in consequence of the extinction of the blood of the tenant, which may happen by his dying without heirs, and formerly might happen by corruption of blood, that is, by reason of a felony or attainder.
	2.	A writ, now abolished, to recover escheats from the person in possession.
	2.	Lands which fall to the lord or the State by escheat.
	3.	That which falls to one; a reversion or return To make me great by others' loss is bad escheat. - Spenser.
v. i.	1.	(Law) To revert, or become forfeited, to the lord, the crown, or the State, as lands by the failure of persons entitled to hold the same, or by forfeiture. [imp. & p. p. Esheated; p. pr. & vb. n. Escheating.]
v. t.	1.	(Law) To forfeit.

Noun	1.	escheat - a reversion to the state (as the ultimate owner of property) in the absence of legal heirs
	2.	escheat - the property that reverts to the state

ESCHEAT, title to lands. According to the English law, escheat denotes an obstruction of the course of descent, and a consequent determination of the tenure, by some unforeseen contingency; in which case the land naturally results back, by a kind of reversion, to the original grantor, or lord of the fee.. 2 Bl. Com. 244.
     2. All escheats, under the English law, are declared to be strictly feudal, and to import the extinction of tenure. Wright on Ten. 115 to 117; 1 Wm. Bl. R. 123.
     3. But as the feudal tenures do not exist in this country, there are no private persons who succeed to the inheritance by escheat. The state steps in, in the place of the feudal lord, by virtue of its sovereignty, as the original and ultimate proprietor of all the lands within its jurisdiction. 4 Kent, Com. 420. It seems to be the universal rule of civilized society, that when the deceased owner has left no heirs, it should vest in the public, and be at the disposal of the government. Code, 10, 10, 1; Domat, Droit Pub. liv. 1, t. 6, s. 3, n. 1. Vide 10 Vin. Ab. 139; 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 250; 1 Swift's Dig. 156; 2 Tuck. Blacks. 244, 245, n.; 5 Binn. R. 375; 3 Dane's Ab. 140, sect. 24; Jones on Land Office Titles in Penna. 5, 6, 93. For the rules of the Roman Civil Law, see Code Justinian, book 10.

jurisprudence, law, reversion