info: Gavelkind

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Gavelkind was a peculiar system of land tenure associated chiefly with the county of Kent, but found also in other parts of England. Its inheritance pattern bears resemblance to Salic patrimony and as such might testify in favour of a wider, probably ancient Germanic tradition.

In Kent all land was presumed to be held by this tenure until the contrary is proved, but some lands have been disgavelled by particular statutes. It is more correctly described as socage tenure, subject to the custom of gavelkind. The chief peculiarities of the custom were the following:

A tenant can alienate his lands by feoffment at fifteen years of age.
There is no escheat on attainder for felony, or as it is expressed in the old rhyme, 'The father to the bough/The son to the plough.'
Generally the tenant could always dispose of his lands by will.
In case of intestacy the estate descends not to the eldest son but to all the sons (or, in the case of deceased sons, their representatives) in equal shares. Every son is as great a gentleman as the eldest son is. It is to this remarkable peculiarity that gavelkind no doubt owes its local popularity. Though females claiming in their own right are postponed to males, yet by representation they may inherit together with them.
A wife is dowable of one-half, instead of one-third of the land.
A widow may be tenant by courtesy, without having had any issue, of one-half, but only so long as she remains unmarried. An act for commuting manorial rights in respect of lands of copyhold and customary tenure contained a clause specially exempting from the operation of the act the custom of gavelkind as the same now exists and prevails in the county of Kent.

Gavelkind was one of the most interesting examples of the customary law of England; it was, previous to the Conquest, the general custom of the realm, but was then superseded by the feudal law of primogeniture. Its survival in this instance in one part of the country is regarded as a concession extorted from the Conqueror by the superior bravery of the men of Kent.

1 Gavelkind in Wales
2 Gavelkind in Ireland
3 References
4 Further reading

Gavelkind in Wales

This was a species of tribal succession, by which the land, instead of being divided at the death of the holder amongst his sons, was thrown again into the common stock, and redivided among the surviving members of the sept. Under Welsh law on a landowner's death the land would be divided equally among all his sons, including illegitimate sons. The equal division amongst children of an inheritance in land is of common occurrence outside the United Kingdom.

The ultimately infinite division of ever smaller pieces of land by successive generations of sons has been blamed for the comparative weakness of the Welsh polity as opposed to the system of primogeniture in England where the entire patrimony was received intact by the eldest son. The Welsh historian Philip Yorke summarised the situation clearly;

'Our laws of gavelkind, had ill effect, applied to the succession as the freedom of the State; it balanced the power and raised the competition of the younger branches against the elder; a Theban war of Welsh brethren ending in family blood, and national destruction.' The Royal Tribes of Wales by Philip Yorke (1799) p.46

Gavelkind in Ireland

See main article Gavelkind in Ireland

References

Robinson, On Gavelkind
Digby, History of the Law of Real Property
Pollock and F. W. Maitland, History of English Law
Challis, Real Property.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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Gavelkind - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaGavelkind was a peculiar system of land tenure associated chiefly with the county of Kent, but found also in other parts of England. Its inheritance pattern bears resemblance to ...
gavelkind - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about gavelkindIn Britain, system of land tenure found only in Kent. The tenant paid rent to the lord instead of carrying out services for him, as elsewhere.
gavelkind definition of gavelkind in the Free Online Encyclopedia.gavelkind (găv`əlkīnd) [M.E.,=family tenure], custom of inheritance of lands held in socage tenure 2)). Spiritual welfare was provided for by frankalmoign tenure, i.e., granting ...
Gavelkind in Ireland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaUnder Brehon Law Gavelkind, also known as partible inheritance, [1] was a species of tribal succession, by which the land was divided at the death of the holder amongst his sons.
gavelkind - Definition of gavelkind at Your DictionaryHistorical in Great Britain, a system of land tenure by which: the property of a man dying intestate was divided equally among his sons; the tenant could dispose of his land by ...
gavelkind - definition of gavelkind by the Free Online Dictionary ... gav·el·kind (g v l-k nd) n. An English system of land tenure from Anglo-Saxon times to 1926 that provided for the equal division of land among all qualified heirs.
GAVELKIND - Online Information article about GAVELKINDGAVELKIND - Online Information article about GAVELKIND ... Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
Gavelkind legal definition of Gavelkind. Gavelkind synonyms by the ... GAVELKIND. Given to all the kindred, or the hold or tenure of a family, not the kind of tenure. Eng. law. A tenure or custom annexed or belonging to land in Kent, by which the ...
gavelkind: Definition from Answers.comgavelkind ( ) n. An English system of land tenure from Anglo-Saxon times to 1926 that provided for the equal division of land among all qualified
gavelkind, gavelkinds- WordWeb dictionary definitionDictionary and Thesaurus:

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Contents

Gavelkind in Wales

Gavelkind in Ireland

References

Further reading