Patriarchs and Partners in Spousal Bequests in Ireland in 1951 and 2000: The Life Interest as a Dying Practice

Abstract

The gendered nature of property ownership, succession and inheritance has always been a concern for feminists. In Ireland, the 1965 Succession Act effectively abolished gender as an issue in property ownership when it curbed testamentary freedom and granted a spouse a legal right to a proportion of his/her spouse's estate. This article compares spousal bequeathing practices in Irish society in 1951 and 2000 through a small sample of qualitatively analysed probated wills. The findings suggest that patriarchy has declined in transmissions between spouses and that there is an increasing tendency for marriage to be based on democratic principles and confluent love rather than on the prerogatives of property consolidation (Giddens 1992).