Heiress
Defined in 5 dictionaries — Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1910), Black's (1891)
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
A female heir to a person having an estate of inheritance. When there are more than one, they are called "coheiresses," or "coheirs.'" Saxon, some claim it was derived from "heier" or "heir," and "leoma," a limb or member; others are inclined to the opinion that it is a compound of the words "heir" and "loom," the latter being a frame to weave in; still others claim that it had its origin in the Saxon word "loma" or "geloma," which signifies utensils, or vessels generally. The older authorities limited the application of the term to articles of household furniture or "dead chattels movable," but recent writers have given it a more general signification, until now it may be said that, in the common acceptance of the term, it includes all chattels which go to the heir, along with the inheritance, and necessary to its enjoyment, and which by custom, having belonged to a house, are seldjm inventoried after the decease of the owner and do not go to the executor or administrator of the last proprietor. Articles which are considered as annexed to the freehold and cannot be taken away without damaging or dismembering it; and utensils of the stronger or more ponderous kind which are not easily separated from the house are considered heirlooms. Charters, deeds, and other evidences of the title of the land, together with the box or chest in which they are contained, the keys of a house, tables, presses, cupboards, bedsteads, and wainscots, fish in a pond, deer in a park and doves in a dovehouse have been hejd to have been heirlooms going with the inheritance. Co. Litt. 3a, 185b, 8a; 7 Coke, 17b; Cro. Eliz. 372; Brooke, Abr. "Charters," pi. 13; 2 Bl. Comm. 28, 427; 14 Viner, Abr. 291; 2 Kent's Com. 343; 1 Williams on Exec. 606, 607, 609; Bro. Abr. Descent, pi. 43; Termes de la Ley; Spelman.
Ballentine's Law Dictionary
James A. Ballentine · 1916
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
A female heir to a person having an estate of inheritance. When there are more than one, they are called co-hciresaea, or co-hcira.
Black's Law Dictionary
Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
A Dictionary of Law
Henry Campbell Black · 1891
A female heir to a person having an estate of inheritance, When there are more than one, they are called “co-heiresses,” or “co-heirs.”