Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law: Being an Essay Supplemental to (1) 'The English Village Community', (2) 'The Tribal System in Wales' — John Shaqi
Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law: Being an Essay Supplemental to (1) 'The English Village Community', (2) 'The Tribal System in Wales'Seebohm, Frederic
History
Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law: Being an Essay Supplemental to (1) 'The English Village Community', (2) 'The Tribal System in Wales'
Seebohm, Frederic
Anglo-Saxons; Law, Anglo-Saxon; Law, Medieval; Tribes -- Great Britain
The division between brothers was probably originally made only between
those sons of the parent who were living at his death. Like the sons of
the surviving brothers, the sons of a deceased brother must be content
with their _da_ till all the brothers were dead, and in the division
between first cousins they would take their share _per capita_ along with
the rest.
But at the time of the codes, by what Continental examples lead us
to regard as an innovation, the orphaned nephews were allowed in the
division to succeed at once, side by side with their uncles, to the share
and position which their father would have taken had he survived.
[Sidenote: The rights and property of a tribesman dying without issue
fall into the common stock.]
Even after this innovation, if a brother had died _without issue_, his
brothers as brothers did not at once succeed as co-heirs. The share
fell into the common stock till a division, and then went to all the
co-inheritors _per capita_, so that cousins, and it might be even second
cousins, took their shares in it.
The introduction of succession by representation to a deceased father’s
property and privilege was, as we shall see in Continental cases, a step
taken in the direction of individual ownership. It complicated the matter
of the division or devolution of the chieftainship in the gwely, but it
is a point of interest in connection with the Continental evidence.
A clear understanding of the constitution and working of the gwely, as a
typical family group, is so important to this inquiry that it is worth
while to place before the reader the passages in codes upon which, taken
together with the surveys, the foregoing description of it rests.
[Sidenote: Clauses in the Venedotian Code.]
The following is the clause in the Venedotian Code describing what took
place in the gwely, under the heading ‘The Law of Brothers for Land:’
Thus, brothers are to share land between them: four erws to every
tyddyn [homestead]. Bleddyn, son of Cynvyn, altered it to twelve
erws to the uchelwr, and eight to the aillt, and four to the
godaeog; yet, nevertheless, it is most usual that four erws be in
the tyddyn.…
If there be no buildings on the land, the youngest son is to
divide all the patrimony (trew y tat), and the eldest is to
choose, and each in seniority choose unto the youngest.
If there be buildings the youngest brother but one is to divide
the tyddyns, for in that case he is the meter; and the youngest
to have his choice of the tyddyns; and after that he is to divide
all the patrimony; and by seniority they are to choose unto the
youngest; and that division is to continue during the lives of
the brothers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account