PRIMOGENITURE

By Irene Stuber

In 02-05-1777, Georgia's constitution abrogated the European male prerogative of entail and primogeniture, those two bulwarks of ancient patriarchal thievery. Under primogeniture, the eldest male received all the inheritance and women - even the wife - got nothing. When there were no male children (even though there might be girl children), the estate went to the oldest male distant relative.

Hand-in-hand with primogeniture were the laws which gave ALL property (including clothes) owned by a woman, or her income from her own work to her husband or father.

Thomas Jefferson abolished primogeniture for Virginia in 1776 and the other colonies followed suit.

The Napoleonic Code abolished it in France after their own revolution but it wasn't until 1925 that the Administration of Estates Act abolished it in England. However, some estates are still bound to primogeniture.

Modern laws attempt to protect wives and equalize the distribution of inheritance between sons and daughters but trusts and personal prejudices continually tip inheritances towards the male of the line.

Don't let anyone tell you there weren't notable and effective women throughout history. They were always there but because historians failed to note women's accomplishments in their HIStories, each woman of each generation has had to reinvent herself. Spread the word of women's accomplishments. It is time to UNDELETE our past.