Seven generations would reach back to the great-grandfather’s great-grandfather, an important limit of kindred both in the Norse laws and those of the Cymri.
Another clause of the same edict (c. 167), under the heading ‘De fratres, qui in casam communem remanserent,’ enacts as follows:—
Family holdings.
Si fratres post mortem patris in casa commune remanserint, et unus ex ipsis in obsequium regis aut judicis aliquas res adquesiverit, habeat sibi in antea absque portionem fratrum; et qui foras in exercitum aliquit adquisiverit, commune sit fratribus quod in casa dimiserit.
If brothers shall have remained in the common home after the father’s death and one of them shall have acquired some property in service of the king or judge, let him henceforth have it for himself without the brothers sharing in it. And if one shall have acquired anything abroad in the army let that be in common to the brothers which he left behind in the home.
Et si quis in suprascriptis fratribus gairethinx fecerit, habeat in antea cui factum fuerit.
And if any one of the said brothers makes a donation, let him to whom it was made have it henceforth.
The rest of the clause refers to payments to a wife brought into the family holding by a brother. The ‘meta’ or portion has, in this case, been given to her on marriage out of the common property, and so the rights of the other brothers have to be considered.
Et qui ex ipsis uxorem duxerit, et de rebus communes meta data fuerit: quando alteri idem uxorem tollere contigerit, aut quando ad divisionem faciendam venerit, simili modo de comunes rebus ei refundatur aliut tantum quantum frater in meta dedit. De paterna autem vel materna substantia quod relicum fuerit inter se æqualiter dividant.
And he who of them marries a wife and her meta was given from the common property, whenever it happens to another likewise to take a wife or whenever it comes to a division being made, in the same way there shall be refunded to him from the common property as much as the brother gave in meta. But whatever is left of the paternal or maternal substance let them divide among them equally.