Hotchpot

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Hotchpot \Hotch"pot`\, Hotchpotch \Hotch"potch`\, n. [F.
     hochepot, fr. hocher to shake + pot pot; both of Dutch or
     German origin; cf. OD. hutspot hotchpotch, D. hotsen, hutsen,
     to shake. See {Hustle}, and {Pot}, and cf. {Hodgepodge}.]
     1. A mingled mass; a confused mixture; a stew of various
        ingredients; a hodgepodge.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              A mixture or hotchpotch of many tastes. --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Law) A blending of property for equality of division, as
        when lands given in frank-marriage to one daughter were,
        after the death of the ancestor, blended with the lands
        descending to her and to her sisters from the same
        ancestor, and then divided in equal portions among all the
        daughters. In modern usage, a mixing together, or throwing
        into a common mass or stock, of the estate left by a
        person deceased and the amounts advanced to any particular
        child or children, for the purpose of a more equal
        division, or of equalizing the shares of all the children;
        the property advanced being accounted for at its value
        when given. --Bouvier. Tomlins.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: This term has been applied in cases of salvage. Story.
           It corresponds in a measure with collation in the civil
           and Scotch law. See {Collation}. --Bouvier. Tomlins.
           [1913 Webster]

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  HOTCHPOT, estates. This homely term is used figuratively to signify the 
  blending and mixing property belonging to different persons, in order to 
  divide it equally among those entitled to it. For example, if a man seised 
  of thirty acres of land, and having two children, should, on the marriage of 
  one of them, give him ten acres of it, and then die intestate seised of the 
  remaining twenty; now, in order to obtain his portion of the latter, the 
  married child, must bring back the ten acres he received, and add it to his 
  father's estate, when an equal division of the whole will take place, and 
  each be entitled to fifteen acres. 2 Bl. Com. 190. The term hotchpot is also 
  applied to bringing together all the personal estate of the deceased, with 
  the advancements he has made to his children, in order that the same may be 
  divided agreeably to the provisions of the statute for the distribution of 
  intestate's estates. In bringing an advancement into hotchpot, the donee is 
  not required to account for the profits of the thing given; for example, he 
  is not required to bring into hotchpot the produce of negroes, nor the 
  interest of money. The property must be accounted for at its value when 
  given. 1 Wash. R. 224; 17 Mass. 358; 2 Desaus. 127.; 3 Rand. R. 117; 3 Pick. 
  R. 450; 3 Rand. 559; Coop. Justin. 575. 
       2. In Louisiana the term collation is used instead of hotchpot. The 
  collation of goods is the supposed or real return to the mass of the 
  succession, which an heir makes of property which he received in advance of 
  his share or otherwise, in order that such property maybe divided, together 
  with the other effects of the succession. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 1305; and 
  vide from that article to article 1367. Vide, generally, Bac. Ab. 
  Coparceners, E; Bac. Ab. Executors, &c., K; Com. Dig. Guardian, G 2, 
  Parcener, C 4; 8 Com. Dig. App. tit. Distribution, Statute of, III. For the 
  French law, see Merl. Repert. mots Rapport a succession.