Definition
A German legal idiom meaning "children's children" — that is, grandchildren. The phrase appears in German-origin legal instruments, wills, and conveyances where the testator or grantor employed German terminology rather than English. Courts interpreting such instruments treat "kindes kinder" as equivalent to "grandchildren" or, depending on context, as language of general representation encompassing lineal descendants of the original children.
Why It Matters in Research
The primary research challenge with this term is scope. When encountered in a will or deed, the critical question is whether "kindes kinder" was intended to mean grandchildren specifically, or whether it operates as a term of art for a broader class of descendants. Courts have had to resolve this ambiguity when original children predeceased the testator, raising questions of representation and per stirpes distribution.
Researchers working with Kentucky probate records, German immigrant estate files, or German-language instruments recorded in American courts from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are most likely to encounter this phrase. The citation in Bouvier — 152 Ky. 731, 154 S.W. 11 — reflects a Kentucky appellate court interpreting such a term, suggesting that German legal idioms survived in recorded instruments well into the twentieth century in states with substantial German immigrant communities.
When researching instruments containing foreign-language terms of this kind, researchers should be alert to the following: (1) the instrument itself may use the German phrase while surrounding context is in English, creating interpretive tension; (2) the construction placed on the phrase may vary depending on whether the court applied a strict definitional reading or a broader testamentary intent analysis; and (3) later instruments in the same estate may translate or paraphrase the term, which can be a useful check on the court's interpretation.
This term has no connection to tax or property exchange doctrine. The "like-kind" entries surfaced by automated matching refer to IRC § 1031 like-kind exchanges, a wholly separate body of law. That similarity in phrasing is coincidental.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary provides the sole historical dictionary entry, which is brief: the phrase is characterized as a German idiom equivalent to "children's children," supported by the Kentucky citation. Bouvier does not elaborate on interpretive disputes or the range of constructions applied by courts. The entry is definitional rather than analytical.
No other major historical legal dictionaries — Black's, Burrill, or Rapalje & Lawrence — appear to have carried this term, which reflects both its narrow usage and its essentially linguistic rather than doctrinal character. The term is not a legal concept with independent content; it is a translation problem. Its appearance in Bouvier is most useful as confirmation that American courts recognized and addressed foreign-language terms in instruments, and that German-origin idioms for family relationships were sufficiently recurrent to warrant dictionary treatment.
Jurisdictional Note
Encountered most frequently in American jurisdictions with historically large German immigrant populations, including Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, and Texas. The interpretive approach is governed by general principles of will and deed construction in the relevant state, not by any uniform rule specific to the phrase itself.