The Latin sequestrare, to set aside or surrender, a late use, is derived from sequester, a depositary or trustee, one in whose hands a thing in dispute was placed until the dispute was settled; this was a term of Roman jurisprudence (cf. Digest L. 16,110).
In the context of ancient Roman law, the concept of sequestrare involved setting aside or surrendering a disputed item, which was later used to describe a trustee or depositary who held such an item until the dispute was resolved.