Tanistry

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Tanistry \Tan"ist*ry\, n. [See {Tanist}.]
     In Ireland, a tenure of family lands by which the proprietor
     had only a life estate, to which he was admitted by election.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The primitive intention seems to have been that the


           inheritance should descend to the oldest or most worthy
           of the blood and name of the deceased. This was, in
           reality, giving it to the strongest; and the practice
           often occasioned bloody feuds in families, for which
           reason it was abolished under James I.
           [1913 Webster]