primogeniture

``Is Richard's title of primogeniture more decidedly certain than that of Duke Robert of Normandy, the Conqueror's eldest son?

Like most of the high nobility, who rightly enough believed that primogeniture and birth were of the last importance to THEM, she preferred to show her distaste for the present order of things, by which the youngest prince of a numerous family had been put upon the throne of the oldest, by remaining at her chateau.

His two sisters and his brother, Raoul, would not hear of a division and waived their claim to their shares, leaving themselves entirely in Philippe's hands, as though the right of primogeniture had never ceased to exist.

Solomon found time to reflect that Jonah was undeserving, and Jonah to abuse Solomon as greedy; Jane, the elder sister, held that Martha's children ought not to expect so much as the young Waules; and Martha, more lax on the subject of primogeniture, was sorry to think that Jane was so "having." These nearest of kin were naturally impressed with the unreasonableness of expectations in cousins and second cousins, and used their arithmetic in reckoning the large sums that small legacies might mount to, if there were too many of them.

I have been banished from my native land Because by right of primogeniture I claimed possession of thy sovereign throne Wherefrom Etocles, my younger brother, Ousted me, not by weight of precedent, Nor by the last arbitrament of war, But by his popular acts; and the prime cause Of this I deem the curse that rests on thee.

To trail the genealogies of these high mortal miseries, carries us at last among the sourceless primogenitures of the gods; so that, in the face of all the glad, hay-making suns, and soft-cymballing, round harvest-moons, we must needs give in to this: that the gods themselves are not for ever glad.

Historically, apart from the rule of the primogeniture, there was a preference for the male child.

Primogeniture was the law in England in Shakespeare's time, where eldest sons inherit everything-the father's power, lands, titles, etc.

The Firstborn Son in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity: A Study of Primogeniture and Christology

Key recent reforms include ending the rule of male primogeniture on the throne which means girls now born to members of the royal family have equal rights with boys in the succession to the throne; and ending the prohibition on Elizabeth's successors marrying a Catholic.

The PotUS is an elected king - an echo from the Anglo-Saxon Witan which could select the next king from the royal family rather than accept primogeniture. And Salome was a celeb - a royal celeb, no less.

Initially, the former rules of male primogeniture stated that royal sons took precedence over their female siblings, including the firstborn royal daughters.