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(Redirected from Absolute cognatic primogeniture) Inheritance by the eldest, usually male, child

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Primogeniture (/ˌpraɪməˈdʒɛnɪtʃər, -oʊ-/) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relative. In most contexts, it means the inheritance of the firstborn son (agnatic primogeniture); it can also mean by the firstborn daughter (matrilineal primogeniture), or firstborn child (absolute primogeniture).

Its opposite analogue is partible inheritance.

Description

The common definition given is also known as male-line primogeniture, the classical form popular in European jurisdictions among others until into the 20th century. In the absence of male-line offspring, variations were expounded to entitle a daughter or a brother or, in the absence of either, to another collateral relative, in a specified order (e.g., male-preference primogeniture, Salic primogeniture, semi-Salic primogeniture). Variations have tempered the traditional, sole-beneficiary, right (such as French appanage) or, in the West since World War II, eliminate the preference for males over females (absolute male-preference primogeniture). Most monarchies in Europe have eliminated this, including: Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The exceptions are Spain and Monaco (male-preference primogeniture) along with Liechtenstein (agnatic primogeniture).

English primogeniture endures mainly in titles of nobility: any first-placed direct male-line descendant (e.g. eldest son's son's son) inherits the title before siblings and similar, this being termed "by right of substitution" for the deceased heir; secondly where children were only daughters they would enjoy the fettered use (life use) of an equal amount of the underlying real asset and the substantive free use (such as one-half inheritance) would accrue to their most senior-line male descendant or contingent on her marriage (moieties); thirdly, where the late estate holder had no descendants his oldest brother would succeed, and his descendants would likewise enjoy the rule of substitution where he had died. The effect of English primogeniture was to keep estates undivided wherever possible and to disinherit real property from female relations unless only daughters survived in which case the estate thus normally results in division. The principle has applied in history to inheritance of land as well as inherited titles and offices, most notably monarchies, continuing until modified or abolished.

Other forms of inheritance in monarchies have existed or continue. Currently, succession to the Saudi Arabian throne uses a form of lateral agnatic seniority, as did the Kievan Rus' (see Rota system), the early Kingdom of Scotland (see Tanistry), the Mongol Empire (see lateral succession) or the later Ottoman Empire (see succession practices).

Some monarchies have (at least in principle) no element of heredity in their laws of succession at all and monarchs are elected. The Holy Roman Emperor was chosen by a small number of powerful prince electors from among Imperial magnates, while kings of Poland-Lithuania were elected directly by the nobility. Intermediate arrangements also exist, such as restricting eligible candidates to members of a dynasty (as is currently done in Cambodia).

Research shows that authoritarian regimes that rely on primogeniture for succession were more stable than forms of authoritarian rule with alternative succession arrangements. Scholars have linked primogeniture to a decline in regicide, as clear rules of succession reduce the number of people who could (absent a coup d'état) replace a ruler, thus making it less desirable to cause the death of the monarch.

Order of succession in monarchies

Absolute primogeniture

Absolute, equal, (full) cognatic or lineal primogeniture is a form of primogeniture in which sex is irrelevant for inheritance; the oldest surviving child without regard to sex inherits the throne. Mathematically this is a depth-first search.

History

No monarchy implemented this form of primogeniture before 1980, when Sweden amended its Act of Succession to adopt it in royal succession. This displaced King Carl XVI Gustaf's infant son, Prince Carl Philip, in favor of his elder daughter, Princess Victoria. Several monarchies have since followed suit: the Netherlands in 1983, Norway in 1990 (not retroactively), Belgium in 1991, Denmark in 2009, Luxembourg in 2011. In 2011, the governments of the 16 Commonwealth realms which have a common monarch—Elizabeth II at that date—announced the Perth Agreement, a plan to legislate changes to absolute primogeniture. This came into effect with the necessary legislation on 26 March 2015. Other monarchies have considered changing to absolute primogeniture:

With the birth of Infanta Leonor of Spain on 31 October 2005 to the then heir apparent Felipe, Prince of Asturias, and Princess Letizia, the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero reaffirmed the intention of the government to institute, by amendment of the Spanish constitution, absolute primogeniture. Zapatero's proposal was supported by the leader of the main opposition party, the conservative Partido Popular, making its passage probable. However, Zapatero's administration ended before an amendment was drafted, and the succeeding governments have not pursued it. The Prince counseled reformers that there was plenty of time before any constitutional amendment would need to be enacted because the expectation was to leave him next in line to succeed his father despite his elder sisters' continued status as dynasts; equal primogeniture was expected to apply first to his children. Felipe succeeded to the throne as Felipe VI upon his father's abdication in 2014, by which time he had two daughters. Felipe VI has no son that would, absent the constitutional amendment, displace Leonor as heir.
In July 2006, the Nepalese government proposed adopting absolute primogeniture, but the monarchy was abolished in 2008 before the change could be effected.
In Japan, it has been debated whether or not to adopt absolute primogeniture, as Princess Aiko is the only child of Emperor Naruhito. However, the birth in 2006 of Prince Hisahito, a son of Prince Akishino (the younger brother of Naruhito, and next in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne) has suspended the debate.

Monaco, the Netherlands, and Norway also deviated from traditional primogeniture in the late 20th or early 21st century by restricting succession to the crown to relatives within a specified degree of kinship to the most recent monarch.

Agnatic primogeniture

Agnatic primogeniture or patrilineal primogeniture is inheritance according to seniority of birth among the sons of a monarch or head of family, with sons inheriting before brothers, and male-line male descendants inheriting before collateral male relatives in the male line, and to the total exclusion of females and descendants through females. This exclusion of females from dynastic succession is also referred to as application of the Salic law.

Agnatic-cognatic primogeniture

Another variation on agnatic primogeniture is the so-called semi-Salic law, or "agnatic-cognatic primogeniture", which allows women to succeed only at the extinction of all the male descendants in the male line of the particular legislator. Such were the cases of Bourbon Spain until 1833 and the dominions of Austria-Hungary, as well as most realms within the former Holy Roman Empire, i.e. most German monarchies. This was also the law of Russia under the Pauline Laws of 1797 and of Luxembourg until absolute primogeniture was introduced on 20 June 2011.

There are various versions of semi-Salic law also, although in all forms women do not succeed by application of the same kind of primogeniture as was in effect among males in the family. Rather, the female who is nearest in kinship to the last male monarch of the family inherits, even if another female of the dynasty is senior by primogeniture. Among sisters (and the lines of descendants issuing from them), the elder are preferred to the younger. In reckoning consanguinity or proximity of blood the dynasty's house law defines who among female relatives is "nearest" to the last male.

Male-preference (cognatic) primogeniture

Male-preference primogeniture (in the past called cognatic primogeniture) provides that a dynast's sons and their lines of descent all come before the dynast's daughters and their lines. Older sons and their lines come before younger sons and their lines. It accords succession to the throne to a female member of a dynasty if and only if she has no living brothers and no deceased brothers who left surviving legitimate descendants. Then, older daughters and their lines come before younger daughters and their lines, thus a daughter inherits before her uncle and his descendants.

It was practised in the succession to the once-separate thrones of Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland, then in the Kingdom of Great Britain, and then the United Kingdom until 2015, when the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 (effective March 26, 2015) changed it to absolute primogeniture (to the eldest legitimate child, regardless of sex). This rule change was simultaneously adopted by the other Commonwealth realms that have the same monarch as their head of state. With respect to hereditary titles, it is usually the rule everywhere in Scotland and baronies by writ in the United Kingdom, but usually these baronies by writ go into abeyance when the last male titleholder dies leaving more than one surviving sister or more than one descendant in the legitimate female line of the original titleholder. In England, Fiefs or titles granted "in tail general" or to "heirs general" follow this system for sons, but daughters are considered equal co-heirs to each other, which can result in abeyance. In the medieval period, actual practice varied with local custom. While women could inherit manors, power was usually exercised by their husbands (jure uxoris) or their sons (jure matris). However, in Scotland, Salic law or any of its variations have never been practised, and all the hereditary titles are inherited through male-preference primogeniture, where in the extinction of a male line, the eldest sister automatically receives the titles, and rules in her own right, not in the right of her son. A famous example of this is Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, mother of Robert the Bruce, who was the Countess of Carrick in her own right.

A similar system was practised in many of the kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent from the Middle Ages to the Indian independence movement. In many of these kingdoms, adoption was allowed from a relative if a monarch did not have children, and the adopted child could succeed to the throne at the death of the monarch. (Shahu I adopted Rajaram II who ruled as king and he in turn adopted Shahu II who ruled as the next king. Princess Bharani Thirunal Parvathy Bayi, the mother of the reigning Queen Gowri Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore, had been adopted). Often, the wife or mother of a childless king were allowed to succeed to the throne as well and allowed to rule as queen regnants in their own right, until their death, after which the throne passed to the next closest relative. An early example of this is Queen Didda of Kashmir, who ascended the throne of Kashmir in 980 CE after the death of her grandson and ruled until 1003 CE. Another example is Qudsia Begum who became the Nawab of Bhopal in 1819 CE after the death of her husband and ruled until 1837 CE. Other famous queens include Rudrama Devi, Keladi Chennamma, Ahilyabai Holkar, Velu Nachiyar and Gowri Lakshmi Bayi. Razia Sultana was a rare example of a queen who succeeded her father even when her brothers were alive. She was the reigning queen of the Delhi Sultanate from 1236 to 1240 CE.

Male-preference primogeniture is currently practised in succession to the thrones of Monaco (since 1454) and Spain (before 1700 and since 1830).

Matrilineal primogeniture

Preference for males

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The preference for males in most systems of primogeniture (and in other mechanisms of hereditary succession) comes mostly from the perceived nature of the tasks and role of the monarch: a monarch/prince (the latter means in Latin, chieftain) most usually was, first and foremost, a military leader, as in the Book of Numbers.

Social norms pointing to kings further flow from making clear, first-generation survivors, so to avoid civil war. Lacking advanced healthcare and resource-conscious family planning, mothers faced high risk in enduring such regular childbirth. Also in pre-20th century medicine about 10% of women could not have children. Added to this, on any necessary remarriage from death in childbirth, the king would have socially entrenched powers over his new spouse: financial and any rivalry of a new queen consort by her personal and companions' physical strength was within the chivalric norm far-fetched so far as it might present a challenge to her ruling husband, if proving relatively able. Times of turbulence were more likely when a queen regnant/female main heir allowed to inherit was married to or remarried to a similar-status foreign leader, as was conventional for high-status women for their family security and diplomacy. Such a situation was a major source of civil wars; one example is the Spanish Armada. Henry VIII of England did not wait until death and remarried twice on the basis of lack of producing a male heir, on the second occasion beheading his queen "for witchcraft". A small minority of monarchs in many countries have openly made their heir an illegitimate child; stories abound of others as newborns brought to the expectant queen consort such as to James II of England "in a bedpan." Under any of these considerations, sons, some of whose lives were in times of war likely to be lost in battle, could be expected to produce more heirs. Eldest daughters could find themselves under a situation of duress on remarriage, and the concept of the trophy bride if the husband were slain is one resonant in many cultures especially before the 20th century.

In Japan, the Imperial chronologies include eight reigning empresses from ancient times up through the Edo period; however, their successors were most often selected from amongst the males of the paternal Imperial bloodline, which is why some conservative scholars argue that the women's reigns were temporary and that male-only succession tradition must be maintained. Japanese empresses such as Empress Genshō (680–748), who succeeded her mother the Empress Gemmei (661–721) on the throne (but only because she was a Princess of the Imperial family, daughter of Prince Kusakabe), remain the sole exceptions to this conventional argument.

Arguments

Arguments in favour

Primogeniture by definition prevents the subdivision of estates. This lessens family pressures to sell property, such as if two (or more) children inherit a house and cannot afford to buy out the other(s).

In much of Europe younger sons of the nobility had no prospect of inheriting by death any property, and commonly sought careers in the Church, in military service (see purchase of commissions in the British Army), or in government. Some wills made bequests to a monastic order for an already suitably educated, disinherited son.

Many of the Spanish Conquistadors were younger sons who had to make their fortune in war. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, many younger sons of English aristocrats chose to leave England for Virginia in the Colonies. Many of the early Virginians who were plantation owners were younger sons of landed gentry who had left Britain and Ireland fortuneless due to primogeniture. These were key ancestors of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.

Arguments against

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In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville observes that abolition of primogeniture and entail as to property results in faster division of land. However, primogeniture, in forcing landless people to seek wealth outside the family estate to maintain their standard of living accelerated the death of the landed aristocracy and, in his view, thus, quickened the shift to democracy.

History

In Christian Europe, the Catholic Church originally had a monopoly on the authority to sanction marriage. Its teachings forbid polygamy and state divorce is an impossibility per se. Consequently, in Europe, given morbidity and infertility, succession could not be assured solely by direct male descendants or even direct male or female progeny. In Islamic and Asian cultures, religious officials and customs either sanctioned polygyny, use of consorts, or both, or they had no authority of marriage; monarchs could consequently ensure sufficient numbers of male offspring to assure succession. In such cultures, female heads of state were rare.

Biblical

Main article: Bechor

The earliest account of primogeniture to be known widely in modern times is that of Isaac's sons Esau, who was born first, and Jacob, who was born second. Esau was entitled to the "birthright" (bekhorah בְּכוֹרָה), but he sold the right to Jacob for a mess of pottage, i. e. a small amount of lentil stew. This passage demonstrates that primogeniture was known in the Middle East prior to the Roman Empire.

A woman's right and obligation to inherit property in the absence of a male heir in the family was recorded in the case of the Daughters of Zelophehad in Numbers 27.

Roman law

During the Roman Empire, Roman law governed much of Europe, and the laws pertaining to inheritance made no distinction between the oldest or youngest, male or female, if the decedent died intestate. Although admission to the two highest ordines (orders), i.e. the senators and equestrians, potentially brought lifelong privileges that the next generation could inherit, the principle of inherited rank in general was little used. Rather, Roman aristocracy was based on competition, and a Roman family could not maintain its position in the ordines merely by hereditary succession or title to land. Although the eldest son typically carried his father's name in some form, he was expected to construct his own career based on competence as an administrator or general and on remaining in favor with the emperor and his council at court. Other than meeting requirements for personal wealth, the qualifications for belonging to the senatorial or equestrian orders varied from generation to generation, and in the later Empire, the dignitas ("esteem") that attended on senatorial or equestrian rank was refined further with additional titles, such as vir illustris, that were not inherited.

Most Roman emperors indicated their choice of successor, usually a close family member or adopted heir, and the presumption that the eldest or even a natural son would inherit was not enshrined. The death of an emperor led to a critical period of uncertainty and crisis. In theory, the Senate was entitled to choose the new emperor, but did so mindful of acclamation by the army or the Praetorian Guard. Thus, neither an emperor nor his heir had an inherent "right" to rule, and did so through military power and the Senate's symbolic consent.

Reemergence in medieval and modern times

The law of primogeniture in Europe has its origins in Medieval Europe where the feudal system necessitated that the estates of land-owning feudal lords be kept as large and as united as possible to maintain social stability as well as the wealth, power and social standing of their families.

Adam Smith, in his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, explains the origin of primogeniture in Europe in the following way:

hen land was considered as the means, not of subsistence merely, but of power and protection, it was thought better that it should descend undivided to one. In those disorderly times, every great landlord was a sort of petty prince. His tenants were his subjects. He was their judge, and in some respects their legislator in peace and their leader in war. He made war according to his own discretion, frequently against his neighbours, and sometimes against his sovereign. The security of a landed estate, therefore, the protection which its owner could afford to those who dwelt on it, depended upon its greatness. To divide it was to ruin it, and to expose every part of it to be oppressed and swallowed up by the incursions of its neighbours. The law of primogeniture, therefore, came to take place, not immediately indeed, but in process of time, in the succession of landed estates, for the same reason that it has generally taken place in that of monarchies, though not always at their first institution.

Salic law

Main article: Salic law

Also known as agnatic primogeniture, is a system that excludes any female from inheritance of a monarch's principal possessions. Generally known in western Europe as an application of the "Salic law". This rule developed among successions in France in the later Middle Ages. In 1316, Joan, the only surviving child of Louis X of France, was debarred from the throne in favor of her uncle, Philip, Count of Poitiers. After this it was declared that women could not inherit the French throne. Then in 1328, after the death of Charles IV, his paternal cousin, Philip, Count of Valois, became king, notwithstanding the claims of Edward III of England. By proximity of blood, Edward was closest related as eldest son of the sister of Charles, Isabella. The assemblies of the French barons and prelates and the University of Paris resolved that males who derive their right to inheritance through their mother should be excluded. This ruling became a key point of contention in the subsequent Hundred Years War. Over the following century, French jurists adopted a clause from the 6th century Pactus Legis Salicae, which asserted that no female or her descendants could inherit the throne, as a governing rule for the French succession. Although Salic law excludes female lines, it also mandates partible inheritance, rather than primogeniture. This rule developed among successions in France in the later Middle Ages.

In the lands of Napoleon Bonaparte's conquests, Salic law was adopted, including the French Empire, the Kingdom of Westphalia and the Kingdom of Holland. Other states adopted Salic primogeniture as well, including Belgium, Sweden, Denmark (in 1853) and all of the eastern European monarchies except Greece, i.e. Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia. During this era, Spain (in the Carlist conflicts) fought a civil war which pitted the Salic and female-line heirs of the ruling dynasty against one another for possession of the crown.

British titles of nobility

Many English nobility descend by Salic, male primogeniture so have a greater average rate of extinction. For many other titles, if the male line ceases to exist, the title automatically passes to the closest elder sister and her descendants. It could sometimes also pass through a line of descendants to the last holder, as abeyant holders, until they become parents or ancestors to a male descendant who is first born to 'settle the abeyance'. Some senior agnatic cadets are granted from the outset courtesy or subsidiary titles. Notable English exceptions are the Duchy of Lancaster, which is merged with the British Crown which has included women in inheritance since the 16th century, and the Dukedom of Marlborough, which has done so since its establishment in 1702.

However, in Scotland, Salic law has never been practised, and all the hereditary titles are inherited through male-preference primogeniture, where in the extinction of a male line, the eldest sister automatically receives the titles, and rules in her own right, not in the right of her son. A famous example of this is Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, mother of Robert the Bruce, who was the Countess of Carrick in her own right.

Quasi-Salic law

During the High Medieval period, there arose a trend where the extinction of agnatic lineages forced the consideration of women's claims; nevertheless, the desire for a male heir saw the women themselves excluded from the succession in favor of their sons, so that women could transmit claims but not inherit themselves. Such a system was called "quasi-Salic". In 1317, to illegitimize Joan II of Navarre's claim on France, Philip V of France declared "women do not succeed to the throne of France". In 1328, Philip's successor, Charles IV of France, also died sonless; Charles' sister, Isabella of France, claimed the throne not for herself, but through her to her son, Edward. However, Philip VI of France took the throne and added another rule to illegitimize Edward, that being nemo dat quod non habet – one cannot transmit a right that one does not possess.

A variation of this form of primogeniture allowed the sons of female dynasts to inherit, but not women themselves, an example being the Francoist succession to the throne of Spain that was applied in 1947–1978.

Historical examples

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United States and Canada

In British North America, the colonies followed English primogeniture laws. Carole Shammas argues that issues of primogeniture, dower, curtesy, strict family settlements in equity, collateral kin, and unilateral division of real and personal property were fully developed in the colonial courts. The Americans differed little from English policies regarding the status of widow, widower, and lineal descendants. The primogeniture laws were repealed at the time of the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson took the lead in repealing the law in Virginia, where nearly three-fourths of Tidewater land and perhaps a majority of western lands were entailed. Canada had the same law but repealed it in 1851.

When Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met at Placentia Bay in August 1941, Roosevelt said he could not understand the British aristocracy's concept of primogeniture, and he intended to divide his estate equally between his five children; Churchill explained that an equal distribution was nicknamed the Spanish Curse by the British upper classes: "We give everything to the eldest and the others strive to duplicate it and found empires. While the oldest, having it all, marries for beauty. Which accounts, Mr President, for my good looks". But as Churchill's father was a younger son, there may have been more modesty than mock-vanity than Roosevelt realised.

Reform of noble title primogeniture

Spain

In 2006, King Juan Carlos I of Spain decreed a reform of the succession to noble titles from male-preference primogeniture to absolute primogeniture.

The order of succession for all noble dignities is determined in accordance with the title of concession and, if there is none, with that traditionally applied in these cases. When the order of succession to the title is not specified in the nobility title creation charter, the following rules apply:
Absolute preference is given to the direct descending line over the collateral and ascending line, and, within the same line, the closest degree takes precedence over the more remote and, within the same degree, the elder over the younger, combined with the principles of firstborn and representation.

Men and women have an equal right of succession to grandeeship and to titles of nobility in Spain, and no person may be given preference in the normal order of succession for reasons of gender.

United Kingdom

A bill to reform hereditary peerage inheritance law was tabled in 2013 for absolute primogeniture. The Equality (Titles) Bill was socially dubbed the "Downton law/bill" in reference to the British television drama Downton Abbey, in which the Earl's eldest daughter cannot inherit her father's estate as entrusted, unless all of the adult beneficiaries amend the trust (a legal position established in the 1841 case Saunders v Vautier). A Lords' Committee was chosen for Committee Stage, which rejected it.

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Hopkins, Keith (2000). "The Political Economy of the Roman Empire". The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium. Oxford University Press. p. 188.
Hopkins, The Political Economy of the Roman Empire, p. 188.
Millar. Empire and City. p. 90, calls them "status-appellations".
Winterling, Aloys. Politics and Society in Imperial Rome. (John Wiley & Sons, 2009, originally published 1988 in German.) p. 16.
HN.psu.edu Archived 13 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine Smith, Adam (1776), Penn State Electronic Classics edition, republished 2005, pp. 312–313.
Ebtehaj, Fatemeh; Herring, Jonathan; Richards, Martin (29 July 2011). Birth Rites and Rights. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-84731-670-7. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
Shammas, Carole (1987). "English inheritance law and its transfer to the colonies". American Journal of Legal History. 31 (2): 145–163. doi:10.2307/845880. JSTOR 845880.
Brewer, Holly (1997). "Entailing Aristocracy in Colonial Virginia: 'Ancient Feudal Restraints' and Revolutionary Reform". William and Mary Quarterly. 54 (2): 307–346. doi:10.2307/2953276. JSTOR 2953276.
Gerald Hallowell, ed., The Oxford Companion to Canadian History (2004), p 502.
Roberts, Andrew (2009). Masters and Commanders: The Military Geniuses who Led the West to Victory in World War II. London: Penguin. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-141-02926-9.
"Nobility and Grandee Titles". Spanish Ministry of Justice. Archived from the original on 3 August 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
According to the Spanish Ministry of Justice, the default custom of succession is absolute primogeniture, but the titleholder may designate his or her successor or distribute titles among children, provided that the eldest inherits the highest title unless he waives that right.
Graham, Georgia (29 December 2013). "Ladies Who Could Soon be a Leaping". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
"Equality (Titles) Bill [HL] 2013-14 – UK Parliament". services.parliament.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2021.

Property

By owner

By nature

Commons

Theory

Applications

Acequia (watercourse) Ejido (agrarian land) Estate legal literary real Forest types Huerta Inheritance executor Land tenure Property law alienation easement restraint on alienation real estate title
Rights	Air Fishing Forest-dwelling (India) Freedom to roam Grazing pannage Hunting Land aboriginal indigenous squatting Littoral Mineral Bergregal Right of way (transit) Right of way (property access) Water prior-appropriation riparian

Disposession/
redistribution

Bioprospecting
- biopiracy
Collectivization
Eminent domain
Enclosure
Eviction
Expropriation
Farhud
Forced migration
- population transfer
- repatriation
Illegal fishing
Illegal logging
Land Back
Land reform
Legal plunder
Piracy
Poaching
Primitive accumulation
Privatization
Regulatory taking
Slavery
- bride buying
- human trafficking
- spousal
  - husband-selling
  - wife selling
- wage
Tax
- inheritance
- poll
- progressive
- property
Theft

Scholars
(key work)

Categories: Property
Property law
- by country

Monarchies

Type

Topics

Titles

Current

Africa	Eswatini Lesotho Morocco list
Asia	Bahrain Bhutan Brunei Cambodia Japan Jordan Kuwait Malaysia Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Thailand United Arab Emirates list
Europe	Andorra Belgium Denmark Liechtenstein Luxembourg Monaco Netherlands Norway Spain Sweden Vatican City (Holy See)
Oceania	Tonga
Commonwealth realms	Antigua and Barbuda Australia Bahamas Belize Canada Grenada Jamaica New Zealand Cook Islands Niue Papua New Guinea Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Solomon Islands Tuvalu United Kingdom

Former

Africa	Adamawa Ankole Aussa Barotseland Bagirmi Bornu Burundi Central Africa Dahomey Egypt Ethiopia Ghana Gomma Gumma Kaffa Kongo Libya Luba Madagascar Mali Maore Maravi Mwali Ndzuwani Ngazidja Rwanda Shilluk Islands of Refreshment Tunisia Wituland Wassoulou Yeke Zanzibar Zimbabwe and other
Americas	Araucanía Aztec Brazil Haiti Inca Mexico Miskito Suriname Talamanca Trinidad Thirteen Colonies
Asia	Afghanistan Asir Bengal Bukhara Burma Cebu Chehab China Dapitan Hejaz Indonesia Iran (Qajar) Iraq Jabal Shammar Kathiri Khiva Korea Kumul Kurdistan Laos Maguindanao Mahra Maldives Manchukuo Mongolia Najran Nepal Qu'aiti Ryukyu Sarawak Shan Sikkim Sri Lanka Sip Song Chau Tai Sulu Syria Tibet Taiwan Upper Asir Upper Yafa Vietnam Yemen Emirates of South Arabia South Arabia
Europe	Albania Aragon Asturias Austria Austria-Hungary Bavaria Bosnia Brittany Bulgaria Catalonia Crimea Cilicia Corsica Cyprus Finland France Galicia Georgia Germany Greece Granada Hanover Hungary Iceland Imereti Ireland Italy Kartli-Kakheti Lithuania Majorca Man Moldavia Montenegro Navarre Neuchâtel Ottoman Empire Papal States Piedmont-Sardinia Poland–Lithuania Portugal Prussia Romania Russia Samos Saxony Savoy Scotland Serbia Tavolara Two Sicilies Tuscany United Baltic Duchy Yugoslavia Valencia Württemberg
Oceania	Abemama Bora Bora Easter Island Kingdom of Fiji Hawaii Huahine Mangareva Niuē-Fekai Nuku Hiva Raiatea Rapa Iti Rarotonga Rimatara Rurutu Tahuata Tahiti
Commonwealth realms	Barbados Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Fiji The Gambia Ghana Guyana India (British Raj, princely states) Irish Free State / Ireland Kenya Malawi Malta Mauritius Nigeria Pakistan Rhodesia Sierra Leone South Africa Tanganyika Trinidad and Tobago Uganda

Categories:

Description

Order of succession in monarchies

Absolute primogeniture

History

Agnatic primogeniture

Agnatic-cognatic primogeniture

Male-preference (cognatic) primogeniture

Matrilineal primogeniture

Preference for males

Arguments

Arguments in favour

Arguments against

History

Biblical

Roman law

Reemergence in medieval and modern times

Salic law

British titles of nobility

Quasi-Salic law

Historical examples

United States and Canada

Reform of noble title primogeniture

Spain

United Kingdom

See also

References