Mortuary
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia · John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
A burial-place
A kind of ecclesiastical heriot, being a customary gift of the second best living animal belonging to the deceased, claimed by and due to the minister in many parishes, on the death of his parishioners, whether buried in the churchyard or not. These mortuaries, like lay heriots, were originally voluntary bequests to the church In lieu of tithes or ecclesiastical dues neglected in lifetime. See ^ouL Scot. They were reduced to a certain, amount by 21 Hen. VIII. c.
6.
They were sometimes payable to the lord; Paroch.
Antiq. 470.
The mortuary seems to have been carried to church with the corpse, and was therefore sometimes called corpse-present.
2 Bum. Eccl. Law 563.
Anciently, a parishioner could not make a valid will without an assignment of a sufficient mortuary or gift to the church.
2 Bla. Com. 427.
The crown of England was at one time entitled to certain perquisites in the nature of a mortuary on the death of a bishop; 2 Steph. Com. 726.