Questions tagged [inheritance]
Questions about laws and practices for passing down possessions, typically to descendants.
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In ancient Sumer, what would happen if a child inherited an estate?
Let us suppose that in ancient Sumer, a wealthy man who is the head of his household has two living children, a daughter and a son. The daughter is older, but both offspring are considered to be ...
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Why did English medieval inheritance law have coheiresses but not coheirs?
Medieval inheritance law in England required property to pass to the eldest son of the deceased, but if there were no sons then it was shared equally between the daughters.
The feudal system often ...
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Did the Ottoman government inherit every person's property when they died?
Here is a link to a worldbuilding SE question:
It asks about a system where the government, and not someone's family, inherits their property when they die, and whether that system would reduce ...
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Were people of different body types (height/weight/shape) able to have field armour adjusted to them?
Take this field armour of King Henry the VIIIth or armour from this time period (~1500s). How much give or excess room would there be for a person who was taller/shorter or fatter/slimmer that wore ...
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Why are there laws that are used to limit how long a house can be in a family?
Wikipedia on the "Rule against Perpetuities" says that it was sometimes used to restrict how long one family could hold onto a, possibly aristocratic, estate.
Lastly, the rule against ...
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Could a person in Victorian UK be in charge of their own money at 18 years old?
Could a male or female in Victorian UK be in charge of his or her own money at 18 years old? (Circa 1888) Could a legal guardian argue in court that since the age of majority was 21, he should be in ...
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How much of the Jonestown money actually got given to the USSR?
So, I was reading the Wikipedia page on the Jonestown massacre, and I noticed that several members of the People's Temple (including their leadership) willed all of their money to the Communist Party ...
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What was the age to ascend to the throne as Khan/Khagan?
I have recently played EU4 (a Strategy game) and noticed that if you play as one of the remnants of the Mongol Empire which still has Khans/Khagans, your heir can't rule until their 15th birthday and ...
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Why couldn't bastards inherit titles?
Why were bastards historically not able to inherit nobility or monarchy from their parents? What about being a bastard made one unfit to rule? For example William IV of the UK was succeeded by his ...
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Were there industrial tycoons with only daughters? How did they handle inheritance?
Industrial mogul John D. Rockefeller had three daughters who lived into adulthood, but just one son, born last. His birth was remarked as fortunate, since it meant that JDR would have an heir.
Since ...
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System of Government where the Same Family Cannot Inherit
I have been trying to find evidence of a system of government where one of the principles it works on would be to hinder the creation of effective political families (thereby allowing people to ...
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How frequently were girls adopted in Ancient Rome?
Looking over Wikipedia's article on adoption in Ancient Rome, I notice that it mentions that adoption of females "was much less common" than adoption of males. I don't see any sources for that ...
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Historical examples of replacing blood heir by impostor?
Both fiction and (contemporary at the time) conspiracy theories have many examples of "The king chooses to place a worthy replacement on the throne instead of his own not-qualified-to-rule offspring; ...
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Could invocation and revocation of bastardry be used to manipulate primogeniture?
Primogeniture: The legal custom for the firstborn and only the firstborn to inherit the bulk of the estate, especially indivisible property.
Bastard: An illegitimate child without the right to ...
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