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Customary law

Inheritance under customary, tribal and feudal rules, and the courts that changed them.

40 storiesThe law overview

How does customary law decide who inherits?

Where a family has not written down who decides on its graves, the heir who controls the land can move them until a court says otherwise. An artist with many partners and no will leaves his name and catalogue to whichever relatives obtain administration, and every licence then runs through them.

Stories
40
Years
632 to 2021
Main regions
Europe, Africa, North America
Main subjects
Egypt and Africa, Royalty, Native nations and islands
Updated
30 October 2026

Every customary law story, newest first

  1. 2021The Zulu king's widow challenged his will as forged, and his successor's recognition went to South Africa's highest courtmg.co.za and 2 more
  2. 2019Robert Mugabe left about $10 million and no will, and a village chief fined his widow five cows and ordered his body dug upAl Jazeera and 2 more
  3. 2019Tanzanian tycoon Reginald Mengi's will left his estate to his second wife and their twins, and the High Court threw it outtheeastafrican.co.ke and 2 more
  4. 2013Nelson Mandela's grandson moved three of Mandela's children's graves to his own village, and 16 relatives won a court order to return them to Qunu in 2013mg.co.za and 4 more
  5. 2002South Africa's Constitutional Court made two Khayelitsha girls sole heirs of their father and struck down male primogeniture in 2004collections.concourt.org.za and 4 more
  6. 2001South Africa's Constitutional Court upheld the Valoyi community's choice of Tinyiko Shilubana as its first woman Hosi in 2008collections.concourt.org.za and 4 more
  7. 1997Fela Kuti's brother announced he died of AIDS, he was buried in his own courtyard, and his estate signed with WME 26 years lateripsnews.net and 5 more
  8. 1996A Lesotho chief's eldest daughter sued to inherit his chieftainship, and the courts kept it in the male lineCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  9. 1994A Yuen Long woman's brother drove her from their father's house, and village women made Hong Kong let daughters inherit New Territories land in 1994varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk and 2 more
  10. 1992Eddie Mabo died five months before the High Court upheld Meriam title to his island, and his grave was defaced the day after his memorialslq.qld.gov.au and 4 more
  11. 1986Kenya's Court of Appeal gave S.M. Otieno's body to his brother and clan over his widow's objection, and he lay unburied for 140 daysrecordoflaw.in and 4 more
  12. 1982Swaziland's royal council deposed Queen Regent Dzeliwe in 1983 after Sobhuza II diedd.lib.msu.edu and 6 more
  13. 1981Nigeria's Supreme Court upheld Gladys Ukeje's share of her father's Lagos estate and declared the Igbo rule excluding daughters void in 2014journals.unizik.edu.ng and 4 more
  14. 1980Britain barred Seretse Khama from his chieftaincy for marrying an Englishwoman, and as Botswana's president he signed his people's mining land over to the state without compensationthuto.org and 3 more
  15. 1969The Kabaka of Buganda climbed his palace wall to escape the army, and died in a London flat three years laterWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  16. 1948Jinnah left his Bombay house to his sister; India took it as evacuee property, and his daughter died with her claim still pendingthequint.com and 3 more
  17. 1917Queen Liliʻuokalani sued the United States for Hawaii's crown lands and lostWikipedia (English) and 2 more
  18. 1889Father Damien was buried on Molokai where he had served leprosy patients, Belgium took the body in 1936, and Hawaii got back his right hand in 1995US National Park Service and 2 more
  19. 1884The last Kamehameha princess left her lands to a school, and a judge removed its trustees for self-dealing 115 years laterarchives.starbulletin.com and 3 more
  20. 1880Japanese scientists dug up more than 1,600 Ainu remains for study, and Ainu groups sued universities to bring them home47news.jp and 4 more
  21. 1873The Native Land Court declared Ōrākei inalienable, the Crown took or bought almost all of it, and 800 police and soldiers ended a 506-day occupation with 222 arrestsnvdatabase.swarthmore.edu and 2 more
  22. 1830Hawaiʻi's young king inherited the chiefs' sandalwood debt, and the governor who sailed to cut more sandalwood never came backmanoa.hawaii.edu and 3 more
  23. 1828Dingane and Mhlangana killed their half-brother Shaka in 1828, and their brother Mpande took the Zulu throne with Boer help in 1840Internet Archive and 5 more
  24. 1782Kalaniʻōpuʻu left Hawaiʻi Island to his son and the war god to his nephew Kamehameha, and the chiefs who got no land started the war that made Kamehameha kingInternet Archive and 2 more
  25. 1779Hawaiʻi's ruling chief put his feather cloak on Captain Cook in 1779, and it took 237 years and a New Zealand museum to bring it homeSmithsonian Magazine and 2 more
  26. 1635Champlain named the Virgin Mary as his heir in 1635; his cousin sued in Paris and the will was annulled in 1639Dictionary of Canadian Biography and 4 more
  27. 1560An impostor lived as Martin Guerre for three years, took his wife and land, and was hanged when the real Martin walked into courtInternet Archive and 3 more
  28. 1523The Knights of St John surrendered Rhodes in 1522, sailed away with 4,000 islanders, and rented Malta from the Emperor for a falcon a yearProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  29. 1519Leonardo da Vinci's legitimate half-brothers cut him out of their father's estate, and his will still left them money and landTreccani and 2 more
  30. 1500Hawaiian tradition says Līloa left the kingdom to his son Hākau and the gods to his low-born son ʻUmi, and ʻUmi killed Hākau and took the islandInternet Archive and 2 more
  31. 1477Charles the Bold died at Nancy, the King of France seized Burgundy from his 19-year-old heiress, and her marriage gave the Netherlands to the Habsburgsdeutsche-biographie.de and 2 more
  32. 1450Kyoto Imperial University took bones from a Ryukyuan royal tomb, descendants sued for them, and the university gave them to the village in 2025 on condition they never be buriedryukyushimpo.jp and 4 more
  33. 1418Nicolas Flamel left his property to his Paris parish church, a 1612 book made him an alchemist, and treasure hunters ransacked his house for golduniversalis.fr and 3 more
  34. 1246The last Babenberg duke died without sons in 1246, his widowed sister of about 47 married a 19-year-old Ottokar and handed him her title deeds, and he divorced herdeutsche-biographie.de and 3 more
  35. 1150Tradition says a dying Lady Tichborne crawled round 23 acres for a bread dole and cursed the family if it ever stoppedhistoric-uk.com and 4 more
  36. 1137Eleanor inherited Aquitaine at about 13, took it back when France annulled her marriage, and married the future king of England eight weeks laterfontevraud.fr and 2 more
  37. 1115Matilda of Tuscany gave her lands to the papacy, a historian says the surviving deed is a forgery, and the emperor took the lands the year after she diedTreccani and 3 more
  38. 1087William the Conqueror's funeral stopped when a man said the church stood on his father's stolen landUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 3 more
  39. 1066Domesday shows Count Alan holding 33 of the 40 estates of Edith the Fair, and in 1094 Archbishop Anselm wrote to her daughter, King Harold's daughter, who had left Wilton Abbey with Alanpase.ac.uk and 4 more
  40. 632While Muhammad's family prepared his body, a meeting in a Medina courtyard chose Abu Bakr as successor over the people of Medina's own candidateihadis.com and 3 more