Historical points Re: General Rule of Law in the Wizard World & Sirius Estate

[Karen Barker]

No: HPFGUIDX 132392

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at y...> wrote:
> Under Common Law, real property descended to the oldest male heir - 
> except in Kent, where partible inheritance among male issue         
> prevailed, with the proviso that the youngest son inherited the     
> household ("gavelkind"). ***Nowhere did land descend to any female  
> if there lived a male heir, /however remote the relationship/.***   
> How is it that primogeniture is common sense everywhere in England   
> except Kent?

Karen:  Just a small historical note in answer to your question:  
these laws go back to way before the Norman Conquest and it was really 
only just prior to than, so only since about the 10th centuary, 
that 'England' became one realm in the way that we 
understand 'England' to mean today.  Before that time it was a 
collection of smaller realms and kingdoms such as Wessex, Mercia, Kent 
etc.  Kent was a realm in its own right with its own laws and customs 
so it is quite conceavable that it had an entirely different set of 
laws including inherience laws.

<snip> This brings us to the general historical concept of marriage. In
> marriage, husband and wife become one, they become one in the 
>husband.  In that sense, Narcissa in becoming one with her husband, 
>has joined the House of Malfoy. 

Karen again:  Actually in medieval England and prior to then, it was  
more than that.  Through the union of matrimony the wife became 
another of the husband's chattels.  That is why the woman's father (or 
brother in absentia) 'gives her hand in marriage'.  He is actually 
transfering ownership of the woman from family A to family B.  That is 
why in the marriage ceremony the woman vowed to obey and why she 
endows the husband with all her worldy goods (in other words passed 
ownership onto him) whereas he only vows to share his worldly goods 
with her.  A husband had the right to beat his wife if she displeased 
him and it was only considered bad form if he did so in public or 
marked her face badly so that it was obvious what had happened.  They 
were rather more enlightened in Wales where women had more rights.