[AP ROBERT, John].

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.Second edition, first issue; first published 1618. A pamphlet against primogeniture, with a prefatory letter to the Fathers and Sons of Worthy Families. Ap Robert s chief gripe wi th primogeniture stems from what he perceives to be moral decay arising among heirs apparent, i.e. eldest sons, which he calls the insociable inheritors while referring to their extreme vices. Why should these inherit, he asks, while their younger brothers are left penniless? Ap Robert appeals to natural law to justify the omission of written biblical laws advancing primogeniture; to Roman civil law as an example of a reasonable law concerning inheritance, in which all inherited equally; and, finally, to English common law, as having the power to overrule what he sees as a pernicious custom. Strangely, however, he makes no reference to the English customary law of gavelkind, a Kentish law which allowed land to be divided equally among all the testator s sons, and which technically remained in force in Kent until 1925, when the Administration of Estates Act effectively ended primogeniture and, additionally, allowed women to inherit on the same terms as men. Ap Robert s omission of this customary law is probably due to his argument that a father should be still able to choose only one of his sons to inherit, if he should so wish, but to determine precedence according to merit rather than age. . Show more