In the Khasi society, in general it is believed that they both men and women favour daughters more than sons, this is not reflected in the way they care for their sons and daughters they are equally cared and treated (Tanka, 2008). According to an anthropological study in Shillong city based on a sample of 225 married Khasi women and 195 men shows that wives and husbands do have a preference for female children, but the reason for this was neither continuation of lineage nor inheritance of property but old age security (Pakyntein, 1999).

The khadduh (youngest daughter) in the Khasi matriliny has that constitutional rights as the youngest daughter, as the custodian and not the owner of the ancestral property. In the sense that she does not have the right to sell the ancestral property inherited by her nor is she hypothetical to do that according to Khasi customs and traditions (Tanka, 2008).

The matrilineal system of inheritance is a strategy of the men to have control over her ancestral property (Nongbri, 2003). However the youngest daughter does utilize of the property in the way she likes, which makes her more than a just a custodian. But more significantly, this is a stereotyped description of the system of inheritance of property, which in reality has significant variations among the various sub-tribes in Meghalaya and even within each sub-tribe (Tanka, 2008).

2.20.1 Different inheritance practices among the Khasis

According to Gurdon the law of inheritance in