damnosa hereditasn.
Law. An unprofitable legacy; now widely applied to any inheritance, tradition, etc., involving more burden than profit.
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the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > types or manners of hindrance > [noun] > encumberment > burdensomeness > a burden > inheritance or tradition
damnosa hereditas1848
1848 J. J. S. Wharton Law Lexicon 159/1 Damnosa hæreditas, a disadvantageous inheritance.
1889 S. Alexander Moral Order iii. ii. 307 Murder and lying and theft are a damnosa hereditas left us from a time when they were legitimate institutions.
1912 J. E. C. Flitch Mod. Dancing vii. 98 Lottie Collins left a legacy of style behind her which her successors probably found to be a damnosa hereditas.
1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 May 357/1 He is not himself immune from the effects of a damnosa hereditas common to the species.
1935 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Jan. 1/3 He bequeathed his resentment in a Will so complicated..that it threatened..to become the damnosa hereditas of The Times.
1938 R. G. Collingwood Princ. Art x. 214 Hume did not recognize the difference; and his failure has been a damnosa hereditas for all subsequent philosophy.
1955 Times 10 May 4/2 The rule that an executor was not compelled to accept a damnosa hereditas did not provide a reliable guide.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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n.1848