encumbered

Weighed down or burdened. Especially of an estate, burdened by mortgages, debts, charges, leases, or other legal claims that reduced the owner’s effective interest in the property. In nineteenth-century Ireland, heavily encumbered estates were a significant problem for landowners, particularly where rents were insufficient to meet interest and other obligations. The Encumbered Estates Act 1849 established a court empowered to sell such estates and distribute the proceeds among creditors, helping to restructure Irish landownership after the Great Famine.