For the source text click/tap here: Bava Batra 114
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The mishna teaches that a woman bequeaths to her son, her husband, and her maternal uncles, but she does not inherit from them. The Gemara asks: Why do I need this as well? But it is already taught in the former clause: A man inherits from his mother and a maninherits from his wife.
bequeaths to her son is similar to that of a woman who bequeaths to her husband: Just aswith regard to a woman who bequeaths to her husband, the husband does not inheritproperty through his wife while he is in the grave, i.e., if a husband predeceases his wife, then his relatives, such as children from another marriage, do not inherit the wife’s property through him but rather the wife’s own relatives inherit her property, so too, the same halakha applies with regard to a woman who bequeaths to her son, that the son does not inherit property through his mother while he is in the grave in order to bequeath to his paternal brothers.
We explore the cultural history of matrilineal descent.