gavelkind

gavelkind, the English legal term used by government officials to describe the complex and regionally varied forms of collective partible inheritance which characterized communal native Irish land tenures, before these were formally abolished in 1606. The fundamental principle, of subdivision between all male heirs or kinsmen, was similar to that of gavelkind in medieval England, but was applied to communal sept land rather than tenements held in severalty. Moreover, the nature and occasion of such subdivision varied widely. In some districts, scrupulous impartiality was observed in the allocation of equal shares among all eligible male heirs; in others, the lord allocated shares at will, frequently retaining the best portion for himself. In some areas, redistribution only occured on the death of a co‐heir; in others it took place annually. As in England, the practice encouraged the rapid fragmentation of landholdings, and has been held to have been a major factor discouraging the erection of permanent buildings. The penal law of 1704 reimposed gavelkind on Catholic landowners unless the eldest son converted to Protestantism, when he inherited the whole.

Lindsay Proudfoot