Inheritance
The two types of inheritance during Han included the common inheritance of property from the deceased, which all social groups (except for slaves) participated in, and the inheritance of titles, which only the people of twenty ranks, nobility, and royalty could enjoy. In the first form, officials and commoners bequeathed an equal share of property to each of their sons in their will. This excluded daughters, who married into other families and thus did not carry on the family name. However, daughters did receive a portion of the family property in the form of their marriage dowries, which were sometimes equal to a brother's share of wealth in the will. The second type of inheritance involved the practice of primogeniture, where the official title was inherited by only one son. This was as true of the emperor as it was for any king, marquess, or commoner of the twenty ranks. However, to limit the power of the kings while still upholding primogeniture, an imperial edict of 127 BCE stated that kings had to divide the territories of their kingdoms between the chosen successor (i.e. heir apparent) and the kings' brothers, who were made marquesses, thus establishing new marquessates and effectively reducing the size of every kingdom with each generation.
Read more about this topic: Society And Culture Of The Han Dynasty, Marriage, Gender, and Kinship
Famous quotes containing the word inheritance:
“Say not you know another entirely till you have divided an inheritance with him.”
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801)
“Late in the afternoon we passed a man on the shore fishing with a long birch pole.... The characteristics and pursuits of various ages and races of men are always existing in epitome in every neighborhood. The pleasures of my earliest youth have become the inheritance of other men. This man is still a fisher, and belongs to an era in which I myself have lived.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year, and store it within your towns; the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work that you undertake.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 14:28,29.