Foreclosure,

Foreclosure, in English law, the process by which a mortgagor failing to repay the money lent on the security of an estate is compelled to forfeit his right to redeem the estate. Every person having mortgaged his estate is entitled to an equity of redemption, which can only be cut off by a formal process. For this purpose the mortgagee files a bill of foreclosure, praying that an account may be taken of the principal and interest due under the mortgage, and that the mortgagor, on failing to pay, may forfeit his equity of redemption. If on the day fixed for payment the money be not forthcoming, the mortgagor will be declared to have forfeited his equity of redemption, and the mortgagee will be allowed to retain the estate. See MORTGAGE.