primogeniture

Law the right of an eldest son to succeed to the estate of his ancestor to the exclusion of all others

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

primogeniture

the condition of being the first-born child.
the right of succession or inheritance of the first-born child. INHERITANCE systems vary between societies and are extremely important for the transmission and hence accumulation of property. Many Northern European societies practice primogeniture and this may be associated with greater accumulation of wealth and property than where these are dispersed amongst several members of a family. In particular, primogeniture prevents land-holdings being divided into ever smaller plots. In many societies, the first born usually means the first-born male.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Primogeniture

(1) In monarchies, the principle under-lying the inheritance of royal power. It developed in the period when, in conflict against feudal fragmentation, centralized states were being formed. Under primogeniture, the throne passed to the eldest son. In Russia the principle of primogeniture was solidified in 1797 by Paul I.

(2) The procedure for transferring landed property by inheritance in such a way as to avoid parceling estates. It was introduced in Russia by a decree of 1714 and was in force until 1731.

Primogeniture

inheritance of immovable property (primarily land) on the principle of the first born in the family or kin.

The principles of primogeniture first appeared in the ancient laws of India, which established property privileges for the eldest son in the family, and in the law of Athens. In the feudal law of England, France, Germany, and other European countries, the right of primogeniture was established in the 11th to 13th centuries in order to avoid the division of real estate. The eldest son was recognized as the heir of the fief; the other children were excluded from inheriting any portion of it. The right of primogeniture was legislatively fixed in England by the Westminister statutes, which established the succession of fiefs according to law (and not according to testament). The principle of primogeniture became widely applied as well in the inheritance of peasant allotments—for example, in France, according to the customs of Beaumanoir, the eldest son was to receive two-thirds of his father’s allotment. In prerevolutionary Russia survivals of the right of primogeniture with regard to entailed and family estates continued up until the Great October Socialist Revolution.

Bourgeois law rejects the right of primogeniture as contradictory to the principle of freedom of inheritance; this, however, does not exclude its application. The right of primogeniture continued longest in Great Britain. In Hitlerite Germany the principle of primogeniture was legislatively reinstituted for the property of peasant farmsteads, which was to be inherited by one heir and only according to law.

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Contradicting the views of these expert historians, I try to demonstrate, first, that Peter Is succession law was by no means conceived as a "break with the past" but just the opposite: it was an attempt to preserve Russian tradition against contemporary Western birthright ideology and its notorious demand for "indefeasible primogeniture." Second, I argue that Peter's ideas on succession as explained in Feofan Prokopovich's Pravda voli monarsbei were neither "arbitrary" nor "demiurgic" but deeply rooted in the older traditions of medieval political practice and thought that had been practiced throughout Europe.

Feofan prokopovich's Pravda voli monarshei as fundamental law of the Russian empire

Elle ne conservera cette place que si elle n'a pas de frere, l'ordre de succession au trone suivant l'ordre de primogeniture masculine.

Des enfants promis au trone

Under Section 23 of the Black Administration Act, (25) which takes its cue from the age-old African customary law rule of male primogeniture, the property must devolve upon the eldest surviving male relative, in this case the grandfather.

Tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Women become the instruments of God's will in building a Jewish people that eschews primogeniture, creating the stereotypes of the interfering Jewish mother and the cowed, effeminate Jewish son.

In Scripture: The First Stories of Jewish Sexual Identities

The rule of primogeniture refers to the right of the eldest surviving male to inherit the estate of the parents.

A South African perspective on the clash between culture and human rights, with particular reference to gender-related cultural practices and traditions

Even if the male-preference primogeniture rule has been changed, surely the whole rotten edifice which props up the succession to the British throne should be demolished.

Hair-raising antics are enough to make you cry

The 16 Commonwealth nations of which the Queen is monarch agreed unanimously to end the rule of primogeniture, under which a younger son takes precedence over older sisters in the order of succession.

Women gain equal right to throne

The Yemeni leader may no longer seek to pave the way for his son to take the reins since the days of Middle Eastern primogeniture are over.

Saleh will fall

According to the survey, published in Country Life magazine, fewer than one in five people felt the centuries old succession rule of "primogeniture", which places male descendants ahead of females, was important.

No more prejudices

Apparently, the British public believes that primogeniture, in which male children take precedent over females, is outdated and sexist - and the coalition government plans to change it.

No right to question this hogwash

THE ISSUE OF PRIMOGENITURE in Jane Austen's novels is most often discussed in terms of its effect on women, especially daughters.

Playing with Genesis: sonship, liberty, and primogeniture in Sense and Sensibility