PRIMOGENITURE

This article appears in Volume V22, Page 340 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: PRE-PYR

PRIMOGENITURE (Lat. Primus, first, and genitus, born, from gignere, to bring forth), a term used to signify the preference in inheritance which is given by law, custom or usage, to the eldest son and his issue, or in exceptional cases to the line of the eldest daughter. The practice is almost entirely confined to the United Kingdom, having been abolished by the various civil codes of the European states, and having been rejected in the United States as contrary to the spirit of the constitution. The history of primogeniture is given in the article SUCCESSION, while the existing English law will be found in the articles

HEIR

HEIR (Lat. heres, from a root meaning to grasp, seen in heres or erus, master of a
house
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
  Gothic
  - GOTHIC
  it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
, Gr. xeip, hand, Sans. hat ana, hand)

; INHERITANCE; WILL, &c. But it may be briefly said here that the English law provided that in

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

cases of inheritance to land of intestates the rule of primogeniture shall prevail among the male children of the person from whom descent is to be traced, but not among the females; and this principle is applied throughout all the degrees of relationship. There are exceptions to this rule, as in the cases of " gavelkind " and " borough-English," and in the copyhold lands of a

great

GREAT

number of manors, where customs analogous to those of gavelkind and borough-English have existed from time immemorial. In another class of exceptions the rule of primogeniture is applied
to the inheritance of females, who usually take equal shares in each degree. The necessity for a sole succession has, for example, introduced succession by primogeniture among females in the case of the inheritance of the Crown, and a similar necessity led to the

maxim

MAXIM, SIR HIRAM STEVENS (184o- )

of the feudal law that certain dignities and offices, castles acquired for the defence of the realm, and other inheritances under " the law of the sword," should not be divided, but should go to the eldest of the co-heiresses (Bracton, De Legibus, ii. c. 76; Co. Litt., 165a). There are also many other

special

SPECIAL

customs by which the

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

rule of primogeniture is varied. It may be remarked that the English law of inheritance of land creates a

double

preference, subject to certain exceptions and customs, in favour of the male over the female and of the first-born among the males. This necessitates the rule of representation by which the issue of children are regarded as

standing

STANDING

in the places of their parents, called " representative primogeniture." The rule appears to have been firmly established in England during the reign of

Henry

III., though its application was favoured as early as the 12th century throughout the numerous contests between brothers claiming by proximity of blood and their nephews claiming by representation, as in the case of King John and his nephew Prince Arthur (Glanvill, vii. c. 3; Bracton, De Legibus, ii. c. 30).
See Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law; K. E. Digby, History of the Law of Real Property; Sir H. Maine, Ancient Law and Early History of Institutions; C. S. Kenny, Law of Primogeniture in England.

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