superstitious use

Superstitious \Su`per*sti"tious\, a. [F. superstitieux, L.
   superstitiosus.]
   1. Of or pertaining to superstition; proceeding from, or
      manifesting, superstition; as, superstitious rites;
      superstitious observances.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Evincing superstition; overscrupulous and rigid in
      religious observances; addicted to superstition; full of
      idle fancies and scruples in regard to religion.
      [1913 Webster]

            Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye
            are too superstitious.                --Acts xvii.
                                                  22.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Overexact; scrupulous beyond need.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Superstitious use} (Law), the use of a gift or bequest, as
      of land, etc., for the maintenance of the rites of a
      religion not tolerated by the law. [Eng.] --Mozley & W.
      [1913 Webster] -- {Su`per*sti"tious*ly}, adv. --
      {Su`per*sti"tious*ness}, n.
      [1913 Webster]
    

SUPERSTITIOUS USE, English law. When lands, tenements, rents, goods or 
chattels are given, secured or appointed for and toward the maintenance of a 
priest or chaplain to say mass; for the maintenance of a priest, or other 
man, to pray for the soul of any dead man, in such a church or elsewhere; to 
have and maintain perpetual obits, lamps, torches, &c., to be used at 
certain times to help to save the souls of men out of purgatory; in such 
cases the king by force of several statutes, is authorized to direct and 
appoint all such uses to such purposes as are truly charitable. Bac. Ab. 
Charitable Uses and Mortmain, D; Duke on Char. Uses, 105; 6 Ves. 567; 4 Co. 
104. 
     2. In the United States, where all religious opinions are free, and the 
right to exercise them is secured to the people, a bequest to support a 
catholic priest, and perhaps certain other uses in England, would not in 
this country be considered as superstitious uses. 1 Pa. R. 49; 8 Penn. St. 
R. 327; 17 S. & R. 388; 1 Wash. 224. It is not easy to see how there can be 
a superstitious use in this country, at least in the acceptation of the 
British courts. 1 Watts, 224; 4 Bouv. Inst. n. 3985.