Majorat

Majorat is a form of hereditary estate arrangement designed to keep a property intact across generations by preventing its subdivision through inheritance. Under a majorat, the estate is transmitted to the eldest male descendant (primogeniture), and the rules typically aim to preserve the family’s economic base and social position.

Typical provisions restrict inheritance to the male line; if there is no male issue, succession is often allocated to designated collateral male relatives or the founder’s line. Daughters generally receive no share in the entailed estate, although other arrangements such as life interests, residences, or dowries may be provided to family members.

Historically, majorats were common in medieval and early modern Europe. They were used to stabilize large landed estates and maintain noble power. In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the system was known as ordynacja; similar institutions existed in Hungary and certain Italian states, among others.

In the modern era, most jurisdictions abolished or reformed entailed estates, and majorats are now largely a matter of historical and civil-law reform. Where remnants persist, they may operate within current legal frameworks as restricted hereditary arrangements or have been replaced by trusts and other structures.

Today the term is primarily of historical and genealogical interest, appearing in studies of aristocratic family strategies, landholding patterns, and the legal evolution of inheritance.