In civil and property law, hotchpot (sometimes referred to as hotchpotch or the hotchpotch rule) is the blending, combining or offsetting of property (typically gifts) to ensure equality of a later division of property. In civil and property law, hotchpot (sometimes referred to as hotchpotch or the hotchpotch rule) is the blending, combining or offsetting of property (typically gifts) to ensure equality of a later division of property. The name hotch-pot is taken from a kind of pudding, and is derived from the French word hocher, or 'shake.' It was used as early as 1292 as a legal term, and from the 15th century in cooking for a sort of broth with many ingredients (see Hodge-Podge soup), and so it is used figuratively for any heterogeneous mixture. It commonly arises in cases of divorce financial proceedings often in the guise of other names and general principles used. Hotchpot remains of occasional use in a dwindling range of jurisdictions worldwide to divide up a deceased person's estate subsequent to gift(s) which the local law considers: The principle exists in the law of Scotland in cases of succession and is known as collatio inter liberos.