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

Wars and confiscations, but above all the custom of gavelkind, had reduced that body very low.

From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 07 (of 12) by Burke, Edmund

The Custumal published among the Statutes speaks of the personal freedom of all Kentish-men, although it has to concern itself specially with the gavelkind tenantry.

From Villainage in England Essays in English Mediaeval History by Vinogradoff, Paul

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.

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

It may be that gavelkind is the older, and that Borough English is a remnant or distortion of what appears, on the face of it, a more equitable condition of things.

From The Customs of Old England by Snell, F. J. (Frederick John)