gavelkind

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“
Over the fireplace there was a table of descents and relationship, showing how heirship went; and the table was very complicated, describing not only the heirship of ordinary real and personal property, but also explaining the wonderful difficulties of gavelkind, and other mysteriously traditional laws.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun An English system of land tenure from Anglo-Saxon times to 1926 that provided for the equal division of land among all qualified heirs.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (32)

  • Over the fireplace there was a table of descents and relationship, showing how heirship went; and the table was very complicated, describing not only the heirship of ordinary real and personal property, but also explaining the wonderful difficulties of gavelkind, and other mysteriously traditional laws. —  Miss Mackenzie
  • The Irish and Anglo-Saxons, in former times, held the land in gavelkind, and the territory belonged to the tribe or sept; but if the tribe held it as indivisible, they still held it as private property. —  The American Republic : constitution, tendencies and destiny
  • The primitive intention was, that the "best man" should reign; but practically it ended in might being taken for right, and often for less important qualifications The possession and inheritance of landed property was regulated by the law called gavelkind (gavail-kinne), an ancient Celtic institution, but common to Britons, Anglo-Saxons, and others. —  An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800
  • There were, besides, the laws of gavelkind or division of property among the members of the clan; laws relating to boundaries; sumptuary laws regulating the dress of the various castes into which society was divided; laws relating to the planting of trees, the trespass of cattle, and billeting of troops. —  A Popular History of Ireland : from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics — Complete
  • VI. from the operations of gavelkind tenure —  The Lucasta Poems
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English gavelkinde : Old English gafol, gavel; see gavel2 + Old English gecynd, kind; see kind2.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Irish gabhail-cine, gavelkind, from gabhail, a taking (a tenure), = Gaelic gabhail, a taking, a lease, farm, = Welsh gafael = Cornish gavel, a hold, holding, tenure (see gavel), + Irish cine, a race, tribe, family (cf. Welsh cenedl, a tribe).
 

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/ˈgævɛlkaɪnd/
by American Heritage

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