droit d'aubaine

French

Etymology

Literally, “entitlement to the aubaine”.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dʁwa d‿o.bɛn/

Noun

droit d'aubaine m (uncountable)

  1. (law, historical) In feudalism and the Ancien Régime, the right of an overlord or monarch to inherit the property of an unnaturalized foreigner, abolished in the French Revolution.
    • 1891, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, edited by Albert de Broglie, Mémoires du prince de Talleyrand‎[1], volume 2, footnote:
      Le droit d'aubaine, tel qu'il existait dans notre ancien droit, attribuait au souverain la succession de tous les étrangers morts en France.
      The right to the aubaine, as it existed in our former law, let the ruler claim the inheritance of all foreigners who died in France.

Further reading

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