primogeniture

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The state of being the firstborn of the children of the same parents.
2. (countable, uncountable)The principle that the eldest child has an exclusive right of inheritance.

   “On these grounds, I contend the mere possession of large property, which is all that primogeniture insures, is by no means a sufficient and unobjectionable qualification for a legislator.”

   “Anglo-Saxon kings did not succeed on the basis of primogeniture. All the kings offspring were known as aethelings -- throneworthy -- and from this gene pool the royal family would select the aetheling who seemed best qualified for the job.”

   “Primogeniture acting as a law of inheritance in the case of intestacy applied in fact to all real property, however humble. Movables and personal property in this context were subject to equal division, the elder son inheriting all real property as well as his share of the personal property.”

   “He writes as if he is the first privileged male to notice the unfairness of primogeniture (the “hierarchy”, as he likes to call it with sinister emphasis).”

3. (countable)An instance of such a right of inheritance, established by custom or law.

   “The King of Sardinia, by a decree of the 9th of Dec. has abolished— 1. The prohibition against the erection of primogenitures and feudal rights, enacted by the 9th section of the edict of the 29th of July 1797, or by any other law; restricting, however, to those primogenitures and majorats only which shall be erected in favour of persons[…].”

   “All primogenitures, trusts, rights of presentation, and every other description of entail on real property, movables, or fixtures, rents, annuities, seigneuries, or of any other kind whatsoever, are suppressed, which are from henceforward restored to the class of absolutely free.”

   “The American system of land tenures, the abolition of entails and primogenitures, and our methods of transfer of real estate, are all anti-English in their origin.”