Jonathan S. Milgram shows that the transformation of inheritance from the biblical to the Tannaitic time can best be explained against the background of the legal and social contexts in which the Tannaitic laws were formulated. To this end, the author presents laws in other ancient law traditions adopted and adopted by the Tannaim, and considers the extent to which Tannaite laws could have sprung from the social and economic realities of Tannatic Palestine.