The Provisions of Westminster

The Provisions of Oxford, reorganizing the government of England with a series of reforms that removed power from King Henry III and distributed it among a large council of barons and others, were replaced a year later by the Provisions of Westminster of 1259.This document restated the Provisions of Oxford, but added additional changes to taxation and inheritance policies, and included a section on mortmain.The term "mortmain" comes from Latin mortua manus ("dead hand"), and refers to the permanent ownership of property by a legal entity, such as a church owning property from which it gains revenue through rent. Because the church entity was not a living person, the land could be said to be held in a "dead hand." (That explanation was devised in the 18th century.)Land held by an individual could be passed on to another when the individual died. If the individual had no heirs, the Crown took possession and chose to whom it should go. Mortmain meant that a legal entity could posses land…