In this chapter, in which I discuss briefly and simply various aspects of systems of inheritance of farmland, my main concerns are to show that these do not operate nearly as rigidly as is commonly supposed, and to link inheritance with considerations regarding inequality, already discussed in Chapters 2 and 6. Cultivators ‘do not operate their inheritance rules in such a way as to make the whole system uneconomic’; and just as in Britain, much uncertainty often attaches to the detailed arrangements for transmission of property between the generations. Among other diverse matters to be discussed are: first, the fact that in polygynous societies the sons of richer fathers may inherit no more farmland than the average man; second, that in the forest zone of West Africa land rights are not necessarily heritable at all; and third, that the scattered nature of the ordinary farmholding does not necessarily impede inheritance processes.

In patrilineal societies, or in non-unilineal societies, such as the Hausa or the Hindu, where the sons are in practice their fathers' main inheritors, there are usually many imperfections or uncertainties attached to systems which are supposed, in firm principle, to assure equal division between male heirs.