Primogeniture is the rule of law, under which the eldest son of the family succeeds to the father's real estate in preference to, and in absolute exclusion of, the younger sons and all the sisters. See ENTAIL, FAMILY, FEUDALISM, FIRST-BORN, LAND LAWS, SUCCESSION; and the valuable monograph on Primogeniture (1895) by Evelyn Cecil.
Primogeniture
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 8: Peasant to Eoumelia, p. 404
Source scan(s): p. 0413