Definition of "gavelkind" [gav•el•kind]

• An English system of land tenure from Anglo-Saxon times to 1926 that provided for the equal division of land among all qualified heirs. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In Kent, there was so-called gavelkind tenure; land descended to all sons in equal shares."
• "In Kent, under the system known as gavelkind tenure abolished in 1925, land descended to all the sons equally."
• "The possession and inheritance of landed property was regulated by the law called gavelkind (gavail-kinne), an ancient Celtic institution, but common to Britons, Anglo-Saxons, and others."