Primogeniture
Primogeniture is inheritance by the first-born of the entirety of a parent's wealth, estate or office. Primogeniture often occurs in regulating royal succession to the throne in a monarchy.
Agnatic primogeniture is inheritance by the first-born male child. Cognatic primogeniture is inheritance by the first-born child without regards to gender. The first country to adopt full cognatic primogeniture was Sweden in 1980. Beneficiary of this was Victoria of Sweden.
A special case of primogeniture exemplified in the French royal milieu, the Salic Law (attributed to the Salian Franks) forbade any inheritance of a crown through the female line. This accounts for the separation of the royal house of Luxemburg from that of the Netherlands, and partially explains the role of Carlism in Spain.
See also
Referenced By
King of Sweden | Society of the Cincinnati
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