gavelkind

& a. [Ir. gabhailcine, from gabhail a receiving, a tenure, and cine =race, tribe, family.] A. As substantive: Eng . Law : A custom, now only surviving in Kent, whereby the lands of a person dying without a will descended to all the sons in equal shares, and the i ue, whether male or female, of a deceased son, inherited the father's part. In default of sons the land descended to the daughters, and in default of daughters to the brothers, sisters, or their i ue. "The custom of gavelkind in Kent, and some other parts of the kingdom (though perhaps it was also general till the Norman conquest) ordains, among other things, that not the eldest son only of the father shall succeed to his inheritance, but all the sons alike; and that, though the ancestor be attainted and hanged, yet the heir shall succeed to his estate, without any escheat to the lord." Black stone : Comment., introd. § 3. B. As adj .: Held under the custom described in A. "Thus the rule of gavelkind tenure, by which all the sons take in equal shares, remains unaltered."- Black stone: Comment ., bk. ii., ch. 11.