Majorat

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Majorat is the right of succession to property according to age (primogeniture). A majorat (fideicommis) would be inherited by the oldest son, or if there was no son, the nearest relative. This law existed in some of the European countries and was designed to prevent the distribution of wealthy estates between many members of the family, thus weakening their position. Majorats were one of the factors easing the evolution of aristocracy.

Majorat was specifically regulated by French law. In France, it was a title of property, landed or funded, attached to a title of honor (in England, colloquially, peerage), instituted by Napoleon I and abolished 1848.

In Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, majorat was known as ordynacja and was introduced in late 16th century by king Stefan Batory. Many Polish magnates fortunes were based on ordynacja, among them those of Radziwiłłs, Zamoyscy's, Czartoryscy's, Potoccy's, Lubomirscy's. Ordynacja was abolished by the agricultural reform in the People's Republic of Poland.