SEQUESTRATION, in the Civil Law, is the act of the ordinary, disposing of the goods and chattels of one deceased, whose estate no man will meddle with.
A widow is also said to sequester, when the disclaims having any thing to do with the estate of her deceased husband.
Among the Romanists, in questions of marriage, where the wife complains of impotency in the husband, she is to be sequestered into a convent, or into the hands of matrons, till the process be determined.
SEQUESTRATION is also used for the act of gathering the fruits of a benefice void, to the use of the next incumbent.
Sometimes a benefice is kept under sequestration for many years, when it is of so small value, that no clergyman fit to serve the cure will be at the charge of taking it by institution; in which case the sequestration is committed either to the curate alone, or to the curate and church-wardens jointly. Sometimes the profits of a living in controversy, either by the consent of the parties, or the judge's authority, are sequestered and placed for safety in a third hand, till the suit is determined, a minister being appointed by the judge to serve the cure, and allowed a certain salary out of the profits. Sometimes the profits of a living are sequestered for neglect of duty, for dilapidations, or for satisfying the debts of the incumbent.