Editing Inheritance (section)

==Religious laws about inheritance==
===Jewish laws===
The inheritance is patrimonial. The father —that is, the owner of the land— bequeaths only to his male descendants, so the Promised Land passes from one Jewish father to his sons. According to the [[Law of Moses]], the [[Firstborn (Judaism)|firstborn son]] was entitled to receive twice as much of his father's inheritance as the other sons ({{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|21:15-17|HE}}).

If there were no living sons and no descendants of any previously living sons, daughters inherit. In Numbers 27, the five [[daughters of Zelophehad]] come to Moses and ask for their father's inheritance, as they have no brothers.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Numbers|27:1-4|HE}}</ref> The order of inheritance is set out: a man's sons inherit first, daughters if no sons, brothers if he has no children, and so on.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Numbers|27:7-11|HE}}</ref>

Later, in Numbers 36, some of the heads of the families of the tribe of Manasseh come to Moses and point out that, if a daughter inherits and then marries a man not from her paternal tribe, her land will pass from her birth-tribe's inheritance into her marriage-tribe's. So a further rule is laid down: if a daughter inherits land, she must marry someone within her father's tribe.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Numbers|36|HE}}</ref> (The daughters of Zelophehad marry the sons' of their father's brothers. There is no indication that this was not their choice.)

The laws of Jewish inheritance are discussed in the [[Talmud]],<ref>In tractate [[Baba Bathra]]</ref> in the [[Mishneh Torah]]<ref name="chabad.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1170531/jewish/Chapter-2.htm|title=Nachalot - Chapter 2|website=www.chabad.org|access-date=28 September 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130609033429/http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1170531/jewish/Chapter-2.htm|archive-date=9 June 2013}}</ref> and by [[Saadiah ben Joseph]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/seferhayerushot00mlgoog|title=Sefer ha-yerushot: ʻim yeter ha-mikhtavim be-divre ha-halakhah be-ʻAravit uve-ʻIvrit uve-Aramit|first=Joel Müller|last=Saʻadia ben Joseph |date=28 September 1897|publisher=Ernest Leroux|access-date=28 September 2017|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> among other sources. All these sources agree that the firstborn son is entitled to a double portion of his father's estate.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|21:17|HE}}</ref> This means that, for example, if a father left five sons, the firstborn receives a third of the estate and each of the other four receives a sixth. If he left nine sons, the firstborn receives a fifth and each of the other eight receive a tenth.<ref name="chabad.org" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bjec.org/about/moot_court_sources.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-04-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094445/http://www.bjec.org/about/moot_court_sources.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}</ref> If the eldest surviving son is not the firstborn son, he is not entitled to the double portion.

[[Philo of Alexandria]]<ref>Spec. Leg. 2.130</ref> and [[Josephus]]<ref>Ant. 4.249</ref> also comment on the [[Jewish]] laws of inheritance, praising them above other law codes of their time. They also agreed that the firstborn son must receive a double portion of his father's estate.

===Christian laws===
At first, Christianity did not have its own inheritance traditions distinct from Judaism. With the accession of [[Constantine the Great|Emperor Constantine]] in 306, Christians both began to distance themselves from Judaism and to have influence on the law and practices of secular institutions. From the beginning, this included inheritance. The Roman practice of [[Adoption in ancient Rome|adoption]] was a specific target, because it was perceived to be in conflict with the Judeo-Christian doctrine of [[primogeniture]]. As Stephanie Coontz documents in ''Marriage, a History'' (Penguin, 2006), not only succession but the whole constellation of rights and practices that included marriage, adoption, legitimacy, consanguinity, and inheritance changed in Western Europe from a Greco-Roman model to a Judeo-Christian pattern, based on Biblical and traditional Judeo-Christian principles. The transformation was essentially complete in the Middle Ages, although in English-speaking countries there was additional development under the influence of [[Henry VIII|Protestantism]]. Even when Europe became secularized and Christianity faded into the background, the legal foundation Christendom had laid remained. Only in the era of modern jurisprudence have there been significant changes.

===Islamic laws===
{{Main|Islamic inheritance jurisprudence}}
The [[Quran]] introduced a number of different rights and restrictions on matters of inheritance, including general improvements to the treatment of women and family life compared to the pre-Islamic societies that existed in the Arabian Peninsula at the time.<ref name="EI2">{{Cite encyclopedia |edition=second |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |isbn=90-04-09419-9 |volume=7 |editor=C.E. Bosworth |display-editors=et al |title=Mīrāth |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |year=1993}}</ref> Furthermore, the Quran introduced additional heirs that were not entitled to inheritance in pre-Islamic times, mentioning nine relatives specifically of which six were female and three were male. However, the inheritance rights of women remained different to those of men because in Islam someone always has a responsibility of looking after a woman's expenses. According to 4:11, for example, a son is entitled to twice as much inheritance as a daughter.<ref>{{qref|4|11|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=4&verse=11|title=The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Translation|website=corpus.quran.com|access-date=28 September 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301132410/http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=4&verse=11|archive-date=1 March 2017}}</ref> The Quran also presented efforts to fix the laws of inheritance, and thus forming a complete legal system. This development was in contrast to pre-Islamic societies where rules of inheritance varied considerably.<ref name="EI2" /> In addition to the above changes, the Quran imposed restrictions on [[testamentary]] powers of a [[Muslim]] in disposing his or her property.

Three verses of the Quran, 4:11, 4:12 and 4:176,  give specific details of inheritance and shares, in addition to few other verses dealing with testamentary.<ref>{{qref|4|11|b=y}},{{qref|4|12}},{{qref|4|176}}</ref> But this information was used as a starting point by Muslim jurists who expounded the laws of inheritance even further using [[Hadith]], as well as methods of juristic reasoning like [[Qiyas]]. Nowadays, inheritance is considered an integral part of [[Sharia law]] and its application for Muslims is mandatory, though many peoples (see [[Historical inheritance systems]]), despite being Muslim, have other inheritance customs.