Gavelkind

Gavelkind (/ˈɡævəlkaɪnd/) was a system of land tenure associated chiefly with the county of Kent, but also found in Ireland and Wales and some other parts of England. Its inheritance pattern is a system of partible inheritance, which bears resemblance to Salic patrimony: as such, it might testify in favour of a wider, probably ancient Germanic tradition. Under this law, land was divided equally among sons or other heirs.

Over the centuries, various acts were passed to degavel individual manors but, in England and Wales, it was the Administration of Estates Act 1925 that finally abolished the custom.

Before abolition of gavelkind tenure by the Administration of Estates Act 1925, all land in Kent was presumed to be held by gavelkind until the contrary was proved. It was more correctly described as socage tenure, subject to the custom of gavelkind. The chief peculiarities of the custom were the following:

Gavelkind, an example of customary law in England, was thought to have existed before the Norman Conquest of 1066, but generally was superseded by the feudal law of primogeniture. Its survival (until as late as 1925) in one part of the country, is regarded as a concession by the Conqueror to the people of Kent.

In Wales there was a custom of inheritance similar to that of gavelkind in England which, in Welsh, was known as cyfran.

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