primogeniture
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Primogeniture \Pri`mo*gen"i*ture\ (?; 135), n. [LL., fr. L.
primus first + genitura a begetting, birth, generation, fr.
genere, gignere, to beget: cf. F. primog['e]niture, L.
primogenitus firstborn. See {Prime}, a., and {Genus}, {Kin}.]
1. The state of being the firstborn of the same parents;
seniority by birth among children of the same family.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Eng. Law) The exclusive right of inheritance which
belongs to the eldest son. Thus in England the right of
inheriting the estate of the father belongs to the eldest
son, and in the royal family the eldest son of the
sovereign is entitled to the throne by primogeniture. In
exceptional cases, among the female children, the crown
descends by right of primogeniture to the eldest daughter
only and her issue. --Blackstone.
[1913 Webster]
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
PRIMOGENITURE. The state of being first born the eldest.
2. Formerly primogeniture gave a title in cases of descent to the
oldest son in preference to the other children; this unjust distinction has
been generally abolished in the United States.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
51 Moby Thesaurus words for "primogeniture":
aboriginality, age, ancien regime, ancientness, antiquity, atavism,
bequeathal, bequest, birthright, borough-English,
cobwebs of antiquity, coheirship, coparcenary, deanship,
dust of ages, eld, elderliness, eldership, entail, gavelkind,
great age, heirloom, heirship, hereditament, heritable, heritage,
heritance, hoary age, hoary eld, incorporeal hereditament,
inheritance, inveteracy, law of succession, legacy,
line of succession, mode of succession, old age, old order,
old style, oldness, patrimony, postremogeniture, primitiveness,
primordialism, primordiality, reversion, senility, seniority,
succession, ultimogeniture, venerableness
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