Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Primogeniture

1. The state of being the firstborn child among siblings. 2. The common-law right of the firstborn son to inherit his ancestor's estate, usu. to the exclusion of his younger siblings. - Also termed (in sense 2) primogenitureship. See BOROUGH ENGLISH. "We might note here, parenthetically, that the English preference for single-file male descent - that is, the system of descent known as primogeniture - was never cordially received in this country. Our statutes of descent and distribution uniformly provide for sons' and daughters' sharing the inheritance equally. Although this seems a fairer method than primogeniture, which was finally abolished in Britain with the 1925 reforms, the descent of property to an ever-expanding group of heirs can seriously complicate the clearing of old titles." Thomas F. Bergin & Paul G. Haskell, Preface to Estates in Land and Future Interests 9 (2d ed. 1984).