Gavelkind

In Law, a [Kentish] custom whereby the lands of a father are, at his death, equally divided among his sons, to the exclusion of the females, or those of a brother are equally divided among brothers, if he dies without issue. - Daniel Fenning's Royal English Dictionary, 1775Apparently from a British source, although the word is of Gaelic form. - Hensleigh Wedgewood's Dictionary of English