Perhaps you're thinking of "mortmain", a nice English/French word: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortmain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortmain https://en.wik

Perhaps you're thinking of "mortmain", a nice English/French word: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortmain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortmain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_against_perpetuities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_against_perpetuities There's also the expression "dead hand", but that may also refer to a Soviet strategic defence system, which has also been referred to as "hand from coffin", which is certainly more fun than the official name.