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August 11, 2016

The basic principle of all types of primogeniture is the same: the eldest son inherits the lot.

Like most ancient laws surviving to this day, it’s wise.
In fact, ancient laws survive to this day specifically because they’re wise. It’s obvious that inheritance through all siblings regardless of sex will eventually reduce the family to powerless penury. With no primogeniture existing, as it didn’t exist, for example, in Russia, big estates were fractured to a point where they could no longer generate a living. Thus in Leo Tolstoy’s will his estate was equally divided among his wife and nine surviving children. That was about four hundred acres each – another generation, and there would not have been enough left to feed a family. Mercifully, the Bolsheviks preempted that problem by confiscating the lot in 1918. King Clovis, meet the Duke of Westminster – Alexander Boot

Posted by gerardvanderleun at August 11, 2016 11:36 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

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