GAVELKIND

An old English custom or tenure annexed to all lands in the county of Kent not especially exempted, by which the land of the father is equally divided at his death among all his sons, or the land of the brother among all his brethren if he have no i ue of his own. Tenure in gavelkind is considered by Black stone to have been in the nature of free socage. In most places the gavelkind tenant had the power of devising by will before the Statute of Wills. The same custom seems to have been prevalent in Wales, where all gavelkind lands were made descendible to the heir at common law by Stat. 34 & 35 H. 8. c. 36. In Kent the lands have been for the most part disgavelled, or deprived of their customary descendible quality, by particular statutes; but lands in Kent are presumed to be gavelkind, unle the contrary be shown. [s. 501]