Primogeniture
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
Eldership; seniority; state of being the first-born; the superior title of an elder son in estates to the exclusion of the younger sons. The canon of descent, in England, is " that, where there are two or more males, in equal degree, the oldest only shall inherit." iitt. § 5. The law of primogeniture became generally established in England in the reign of Henry III., in which reign, also, the lineal descent of the crown to the infant issue of an elder brother, in preference to a younger brother of full age, was established. The county of Kent is deemed an exception, theoretically, to the rule of primogeniture.