Sons like daughters, and daughters like sons : inheritance rights of daughters in 16th century Liège, in the light of wills and marriage contracts

In the 16th century, the customary law of Liège, a middle-sized estate of the Holy Roman Empire governed by a prince-bishop, excluded daughters from inheriting censal property located outside the “franchise” of the states’ cities. However, such property – lands and buildings subjected to cens and annuities (“cens” and “rentes”) – often constituted a significant part of the parental estate. Aware of the issue, and of the risks that the law might lead to situations of conflicts, including legal proceedings, between their children, many parents, together or separately, derogated from the customary rule in their will. However, marriage contracts, thus dowry, were also a means to distribute the inheritance equally among children. In this paper, I will firstly discuss the rights of daughters as fleshed out by the rules of intestatesuccession in Liège. Secondly, based upon a sample of ca. 400 marriage contracts and wills I have analysed in the context of my PhD research, I will show how, and to what extent, parents derogated from customary rules excluding daughters from the inheritance of censal property located outside the city’s grounds. Examples from legal practice will be used to try to understand the motives of this trend towards equality among children, no matter their gender.