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Date: | Sun, 4 Dec 2005 13:08:01 -0600 |
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I think both are true; but being in the wrong birth order is a form of
losing, or losing out. Part of my point is that losing is not about
personal failure, but larger forces in history, like English inheritance
law.
[log in to unmask] wrote:
>Isn't the Law of Primogeniture probably the principle reason for migration to
>and around colonial America? Plus changing fortunes as a result of the
>English Civil War and subsequent political changes.
>
>In western Piedmont North Carolina in the 1700s, it was common practice for
>Daddy to leave his principle estate to his oldest son and give stipends as
>needed so that younger sons could obtain land across the mountains. Often the
>younger sons were gone well before Daddy died.
>
>I have one full generation in which this occurred. I guess my ancestors were
>all descendants of the "oldest son" or married the "oldest son" since we
>remained in the same place through my father's birth in the 1900s. This cultural
>practice was occurring even after Primogeniture in America was discontinued as
>a legal requirement. The reason given by some - and it sure sounds logical
>- was that a family's landed estate shrank generation by generation, so this
>was Primogeniture by choice, not by law.
>
>Joyce Browning
>Fairfax County, Virginia
>
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--
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East 4th Place
Tulsa, OK 74104-3189
918-631-3706 (office)
918-631-2194 (fax)
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