gavelkind

American  

[gav-uhl-kahynd] / ˈgæv əlˌkaɪnd /

noun

English Law.

1. (originally) a tenure of land in which the tenant was liable for a rental in money or produce rather than for labor or military service.

2. a customary system of land tenure whose chief feature was equal division of land among the heirs of the holder.

3. the land so held.

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gavelkind British  

/ ˈɡævəlˌkaɪnd /

noun

1. a former system of land tenure peculiar to Kent based on the payment of rent to the lord instead of the performance of services by the tenant

2. the land subject to such tenure

3. English law (formerly) land held under this system

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Etymology

Origin of gavelkind

1175–1225; Middle English gavelkinde, gavlikind, Old English gafel gavel ² + ( ge ) cynd kind ²

Example Sentences

For similar reasons he was opposed to entails, and favored the application of the just and equal law of gavelkind to the division of intestate estates.

From Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume II (of 2) A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own Writings by Bruce, Wiliam Cabell

On the death of a freeholder his land was divided amongst his sons equally, according to what is called "the custom of gavelkind."

From Is Ulster Right? by Anonymous

So the law of gavelkind, to which the Irish had at one time been so attached, was now to be forced upon them, and upon them alone of all the British subjects.

From Irish Race in the Past and the Present by Thebaud, Augustus J.

It is more correctly described as socage tenure, subject to the custom of gavelkind.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 5 "Gassendi, Pierre" to "Geocentric" by Various

It is known that it existed previous to the conversion of Ireland to Christianity, and that the laws of tanistry and of gavelkind, the customs of gossipred and of fostering, were of pagan origin.

From Irish Race in the Past and the Present by Thebaud, Augustus J.