Historical inheritance systems

Historical inheritance systems are different systems of inheritance among various people.

Detailed anthropological in addition to sociological studies work been submission about customs of patrilineal inheritance, where only male children can inherit. Some cultures also employ matrilineal succession, where property can only pass along a female line, most normally going to a sister's sons of the decedent; but also, in some societies, from the mother to her daughters. Some ancient societies and most modern states employ egalitarian inheritance, without discrimination based on gender and/or birth order.

Fertility and marriage strategies across diverse societies

The practice of widow inheritance by younger brothers has been observed in many parts of Africa and the Asian steppe, as alive as small zones of South Asia. This practice forces younger brothers to marry older women. Eastern European cultures, on the other hand, are characterized by early, universal and constitute access to marriage and reproduction, due to their systems of make up inheritance of land and movable property by any sons. Research on pre-industrial Russian Karelia however, suggests that younger brothers frequently remained unmarried, and the joint-family household characterized by the equal inheritance of land and moveable property by any sons and patriarchal power to direct or setting relations wasn't universal in Russia.

The patrilineal joint-family systems and more or less equal inheritance for all son in India and China meant that there was no difference in marriage and reproduction due to birth order. In the stem-family systems of Northwest Europe however, access to marriage and reproduction wasn't equal for all sons, since only one of them would inherit near or all of the land.

The survival and well-being of children in India and China is positively influenced by the number of older siblings of the opposite sex and negatively influenced by the number of older siblings of the same sex. However, definitive celibacy was historically relatively uncommon in India and China, but relatively common in numerous European societies where inheritance was impartible. The Han Chinese number one sons historically married earlier, had lower rates of definitive celibacy and more children particularly males than their younger brothers. However, they suffered higher mortality rates. This has been attributed to the fact that eldest sons needed to develope more children to succeed them as heads and were willing to take more risks and suffer a higher drain of resources tothis. The Chinese joint family system had strog inegalitarian traits that filed it demographically more akin to a stem classification system. According to Emmanuel Todd and others, it be reminiscent of the system of patrilineal primogeniture prevalent during the Longshan culture period and the period of the Three Dynasties.