ALBINAGGIO (Fr. aubaine, Middle English escheat). — The right of a. or albinage (perhaps from the Latin alibi natus, born elsewhere) is, in the proper sense, that right by which the feudal lord, king, or state, according to the period and place, collected the inheritance of the foreigner not naturalized, who died within the territory subject to his jurisdiction. In a broader sense, the word a. also signifies the complex of legal incapacities to which foreigners were once subject, especially in the field of testamentary succession.
The historical evolution of a. varied in different countries, surviving in part until the 19th century in some places. The Church deserves credit for being the first to rise against this barbarous institution, banning it from its territories (see also STRANIERO, legal condition of the).