Assize of Mort D’ Ancester Law and Legal Definition
Assize of mort d’ ancester is an ancient writ. It is an action designed to sue for land, and supported by a writ of mort d’ancester. It might have been sued out by one whose father, mother, or brother died seised of lands, and tonements, which they held in fee, and which, after their death, a stranger abated. This assize was the second of four petty assizes.
The assize of mort d'ancestor lie, where, upon the death of the ancestor who was seized on the day of his death, a stranger entered, either by abatement, or by disseisin on the death of the ancestor, and kept possession of the land; but where those lands were deviseable by a man's last will, by the custom of the place, there an assize of mort d'ancestor will not lie. [Read v. Read, 9 Va. 160 (Va. 1804)].
