Partible inheritance is a general term applied to systems of inheritance

Inheritance

Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...

 in which property may be apportioned among heirs. It contrasts in particular with primogeniture

Primogeniture

Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings . Historically, the term implied male primogeniture, to the exclusion of females...

, which requires that the whole inheritance passes to the eldest son, and with agnatic seniority

Agnatic seniority

Agnatic seniority is a patrilineal principle of inheritance where the order of succession to the throne prefers the monarch's younger brother over the monarch's own sons. A monarch's children succeed only after the males of the elder generation have all been exhausted...

 where the succession passes to next senior male.

Partible inheritance systems are therefore common ones to be found, in both Common Law

Common law

Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

 and Napoleonic Code

Napoleonic code

The Napoleonic Code — or Code Napoléon — is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...

-based systems; in the latter case, there may be further requirement implying division according to a scheme, such as equal shares for legitimate children.

Partible inheritance has been common in clan

Clan

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

nish tribal societies, an example of this pattern is so-called Salic patrimony

Salic patrimony

Salic patrimony or inheritance or land property refers to clan-based possession of real estate property, particularly in Germanic context...

.
Historically speaking, non-partible inheritance has been associated with monarchies, and the wish that landed estate

Estate (house)

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...

s be kept together as units. In the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, the partible inheritance systems of (for example) the Carolingian Empire

Carolingian Empire

Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...

 and Kievan Rus had the effect of dividing kingdoms into princely states; and are often thought responsible for their decline of power.

Partible inheritance was the generally accepted form of inheritance adopted by New Englanders in the 18th century.