Under
Brehon law
Early Irish law, historically referred to as (English: Freeman-ism) or (English: Law of Freemen), also called Brehon law, comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norma ...
, gavelkind, a form of
partible inheritance
Partible inheritance is a system of inheritance in which property is apportioned among heirs. It contrasts in particular with primogeniture, which was common in feudal society and requires that the whole or most of the inheritance passes to the el ...
,
was the system of land inheritance. The
Normans
The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...
called the Irish inheritance law the name ''gavelkind'' because of its apparent similarity to
Jute inheritance in Kent.
The law
Upon the death of a landholder, his land was divided equally among his sons. The sons of concubines, if accepted by the father as being his sons, had the same rights of inheritance as their legitimately-born brothers. The adopted sons of the landholder, if any, could also receive a share of his lands only if the landholder had made specific and public provision before his death, and the extent of land thus received by an adopted son was not necessarily equal to that received by the landholder's own sons.
While sons received equal shares of the land, the father often prescribed the division by stating which parcel of land was to go to which son. Another known custom was for the youngest son to divide the land into equal parts and for his brothers to choose their parcels. The eldest chose first, followed by the second and so on until the youngest had received the remaining land.
The purpose of the system was to ensure equitable division of the land.
If a land-holder had no sons, his widow and unwed daughters, if any, would collectively hold a life interest on the entire land. Their rights on the produce of the land would lapse upon their marriage or death, as the case may be. Upon the last such lapse of
usufruct
Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil-law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'':
* ''Usus'' (''use'') is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, direct ...
, the land would devolve upon the
agnatic kin of the last male landholder.
Queen Anne's law
In
1703
In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Thursday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar.
Events
January–March
* January 9 – The Jamaican town of Port Royal, a center of trade ...
, in the reign of
Queen Anne, a law was enacted (
2 Anne c6 (Ir)) by the Irish parliament, which is commonly known as the ''
Gavelkind Act''.
[Andrew Lyall; Land Law in Ireland; ] The law made sectarian affiliation a primary determinant of the inheritance of land. When a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
died, his estate would normally be divided equally among his sons. However, a eldest son who converted to the
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
faith would inherit all of the land alone, and all of his Catholic brothers would be disinherited. The law was intended to put land into the hands of Protestants and to reduce the size and therefore the influence of Catholic landed estates.
See also
*
Derbfine
The derbfine ( ; ga, dearbhfhine , from ''derb'' 'real' + ''fine'' 'group of persons of the same family or kindred', thus literally 'true kin'electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language s.vderbá¸ine/ref>) was a term for patrilineal groups and po ...
*
Gavelkind
Gavelkind () was a system of land tenure chiefly associated with the Celtic law in Ireland and Wales and with the legal traditions of the English county of Kent.
The word may have originated from the Old Irish phrases ''Gabhaltas-cinne'' or ...
References
*Robinson, ''On Gavelkind''
*Digby, ''History of the Law of Real Property''
*Pollock and
F. W. Maitland, ''History of English Law''
*Challis, ''Real Property''.
Inheritance
Inheritance law by country
Legal history of Ireland
{{Ireland-law-stub