The next heir had an absolute right to inherit an undiminished ancestral estate, the sons, the brothers and the paternal male cousins were normally seen as heirs, sometimes the wife or the mother were also heirs as their livelihood depended on the land after the husband or son died. The heir had a right to redeem the sale of land, if he or she wasn’t involved in the transaction. Therefore, to make the sale absolute, most deeds state clearly that the next heirs had consented to the transaction and include a clause which states that the vendor cannot re-open discussions or try to raise the price paid to him or reduce the area of land transferred or try to redeem the sale. Despite what was stated on the deeds, sometimes redemption was achieved by the heirs by giving back the original purchase price, causing the original purchaser to lose out.