232 2. Kinship and bördsrätt In 1863 bördsrätt (“birth right”) was abolished in Sweden. This institution meant that in the event of a person wishing to sell land that he had inherited his relatives had first refusal on the land. Provisions regarding bördsrätt were already a part of 13th century provincial laws. In Swedish literature there are two interpretations regarding the coming into existence of bördsrätt and kinship in older Swedish society (13th centurv and earlier). But first it is important to discuss briefly various kinship systems (see e.g. Fox 1967 and Kccsing 1975). One can distinguish two controlling categorization principles regarding kmship systems: 1) Are the kin worked out as originating froma common starting point, an ancestor, or froman ego? The first kin group is called a lineage and the latter a kindred. 2) Is the kinship traced through one sex onlv (unilateral kmship) or through both sexes (bilateral or cognatic kinship)? Both these criteria produce four possible combinations: unilater.il or bilater.il Starting point name bilateral unilateral eognatie lineage patrilineage, niatrilineage (cognatie) kindred (unilateral) kindred A. ancestor B. ancestor bilateral unilateral C. ego ego D. According to the most common interpretation of ancient Swedish society the kinship system was patrilinear (case B). (It should be pointed out that hardly any Swedish historian has systematically discussed the various kinship systems; what is being referred to here exists implicitly in their accounts). One such km group IS clearly distinguishable from other km groups (see figure 2, page 16, “w<^«s//«/e” =patrilineage; see also key page 258). It is a “non-personal” organisation which, in principle, can exist for ever. It is a closed corporation, being able to own land. According to this interpretation bördsrätt can be seen as a remnant of the kin group’s collective ownership of the land. According to the second mterpretation the kin group was, as is the case m today’s Sweden, a cognatic kindred (case C). A kindred can only exist during the ego’s lifetime. Each ego has a unique kindred around him and different kindreds overlap one another (see figure 3, page 16, “/ug” =ego). A kin group of this type cannot, of course, act as a collective owner of land and consequently bördsrätt cannot be a remnant of collective ownership. Instead, it can be seen as an invention directed at the Catholic church and as a complement to it being forbidden to bequeath inherited land.
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