1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Alienation

ALIENATION (from Lat. alienus, belonging to another), the act or fact of being estranged, set apart or separated. In law the word is used for the act of transfer of property by voluntary deed and not by inheritance. In regard to church property the word has come to mean, since the Reformation, a transfer from religious to secular ownership. “Alienation” is also used to denote a state of insanity (q.v.).