Mortuary

In ecclesiastical law

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 church yard 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 "Soulscot." They were reduced to a certain amount by 21 Hen. VIII. c.

6.

They were sometimes payable to the lord.

Par. Ant. 470.

The mortuary seems to have been carried to church with the corpse, and was therefore sometimes called corpse present.

2 Burn, Ecc. Law, 563.

Anciently, a parishioner could not make a valid will without an assignment of a sufficient mortuary or gift to the church.

2 Bl. Comm. 427.