Primogeniture was a system of inheritance established in ancient Norman times in England, where the eldest son would inherit all of his father’s estate upon his death. This system benefited the aristocracy, as the elites needed to remain a small group and not divide their property smaller every generation in order to maintain power. Land was tied to a family’s social standing and wealth, and the only threat would be the sale of the family’s land holdings by the eldest son. At the time Mill’s autobiography, primogeniture had been established for centuries and was considered common law. However, in 1925, Britain finally abolished primogeniture in the absence of a parent’s will. The system of primogeniture also became tied with social reform, as it relied on coverture-the law which invalidated a wife’s separate legal identity from her husband. Private property would only pass to the eldest son, leaving daughters to rely on marriage as a form of economic dependence. Primogeniture as common law allowed the patriarchal and oligarchal aspects of English society to persist and dominate until its abolition in the early 19th century.
Mill describes his views on private property and primogeniture within the context of old political economy, which was accepted as truth for many centuries-that a person’s place in society determined their share of private property, and that property must be protected at all costs. He concludes that primogeniture must be abolished through legislation. Mill connects this abolition to the importance of universal education, as his initial solution to inequality was getting rid of inheritance law, but that education will go farther to solve the problem of social inequality. Mill’s utilitarian beliefs are important to the problem of primogeniture because maintaining power and property within the hands of elites does not benefit the whole society.
Sources:
Barker, John. "Primogeniture ." International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family. . Encyclopedia.com. 24 Feb. 2021 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
Rappoport, Jill. “‘Wives and Sons: Coverture, Primogeniture, and Married Women's Property.’” BRANCH, www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=jill-rappoport-wives-and-sons-cov…;
Richard Schaul-Yoder, British Inheritance Legislation: Discretionary Distribution at Death, 8 B.C. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 205 (1985), http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/iclr/vol8/iss1/8