"Bridgeton" Bringing Down Primogeniture? Jane Austen’s Legacy Highlighting Prejudicial Inheritance Law for 21st Century Women

 

This guest post is from Alana Pearce, Regent Law 2L:

In Jane Austen’s Regency novels primogeniture, an inheritance law stating that only the eldest male can inherit a family’s estate and title, plagued heroines because they had no control in how they would be provided for if their male relatives died. America abolished primogeniture in 1777, but shockingly it is still in place today in the UK. Women in the UK still can’t inherit property.

21^st century women in the British aristocracy are fighting against primogeniture for the right to be heirs to their family’s estate. They are getting help in their campaign from an accidental ambassador, the Regency Netflix hit TV show Bridgerton which debuted in 2020 attracting a record 82 million households within its first 28 days of streaming. Bridgerton is a Regency drama on finding love in London’s social season but uses their platform to highlight many society injustices.

Lady Liza Campbell, Hugh Campbell’s second daughter, 6^th Earl Cawdor, is part of The Hares, a campaign group, which proposed a bill in 2014 to the UK’s Parliament to allow female heirs to inherit titles. The 2014 bill failed due to the public’s lack of interest and Lady Liza’s male peers lack of support for it.

Lady Liza explained to Insider magazine that Bridgerton is illuminating how primogeniture is excluding women from inheriting their families’ estate: “Bridgerton and other TV shows are a good way of getting things across, things that people don't notice.”[1]

In Bridgerton, Lady Featherington’s three daughters are forbidden to inherit their family’s title and property and their estate must pass to their cousin, the family’s eldest male.

Hopefully, Jane Austen’s legacy in Bridgerton will renew public interest to abolish primogeniture, so 21^st century women in the UK can play active roles in managing their family’s estate as heirs.

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[1] Mikhaila Friel, There’s a centuries-old sexist rule shown in Bridgerton that still affects aristocratic women today, and they’re campaigning to change it, Insider, May 13, 2022, https://www.insider.com/sexist-rule-shown-in-bridgerton-still-affects-women-today-2022-5.

For more on primogeniture and the keen understanding and foresight Jane Austen possessed, see Law & Economics In Jane Austen, by Kathleen E. Akers and Lynne Marie Kohm (Lexington Books 2020).