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tanistry

tanistry


  1  definition  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  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.