For hundreds of years, the British had passed down estates and titles from father to son. This precedent was changed when the royal pregnancy was announced last year before knowing the sex of the child. Because of the change to British law, a group of female aristocrats began advocating to apply the principle more broadly. The global TV show Downtown Abbey highlights the old British law and the problems with it when the lord of the estate only has female heirs.
See Ari Shapirio The ‘Downton Abbey Law’ Would Let British Women Inherit Titles, Jan. 15, 2014.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
