The simplest form of the gwely. The landed rights vested in the chief, and he gives cattle out of the common herd to tribesmen for their maintenance.
Viewed in its simplest, and perhaps original form, it was a family group of four generations, the landed rights of which were vested in the great-grandfather as its chieftain.
The tribesmen, his descendants, had only rights of maintenance. By right of ‘kin and descent’ they had received their da from the chieftain. The flocks and herds of the chieftain were the common stock out of which the da had been given, and there is reason to believe that under earlier custom, on the death of a tribesman, his da went back into the common stock of the chieftain.
Probably at first no succession by representation on a tribesman’s death. But in the codes a peculium admitted which went to children.
At the date of the codes it did so when the tribesman died without issue. But in the codes a peculium of private property of which the da was the kernel is recognised and allowed to descend to a tribesman’s children instead of falling into the common stock.
A redivision takes place per capita as each generation dies off.
When the great-grandfather died, the chieftainship, with the landed rights and the herds, was divided between his sons, who as brothers thus became chiefs of sub-gwelys. But the original gwely did not then break up, because there would be a right of division per capita when the brothers were dead between first cousins, and when the first cousins were dead between second cousins.
The division between brothers was probably originally made only between those sons of the parent who were living at his death. Like the sons of the surviving brothers, the sons of a deceased brother must be content with their da till all the brothers were dead, and in the division between first cousins they would take their share per capita along with the rest.
But at the time of the codes, by what Continental examples lead us to regard as an innovation, the orphaned nephews were allowed in the division to succeed at once, side by side with their uncles, to the share and position which their father would have taken had he survived.