12世纪末13世纪初,英国形成了以长子继承制为主要特征的普通法继承规则。在强大封建王权的支持下,这种继承规则迅速占据主导地位,之前在英国广泛存在的诸子平分制、幼子继承制等财产继承习俗则被局限于部分地区。上述财产继承模式在之后的数个世纪里一直保持其稳定架构,长子继承制从未遭遇大规模挑战。但自16世纪上半期起,以英国学界为主的社会各界掀起了一场关于财产继承模式的大讨论。这场大讨论参与学者众多,规模空前,延宕一个世纪有余,对英国历史文化的多个层面均产生了深远影响。 In the late 12th century and the early 13th century, the United Kingdom formed the common law inheritance rule with the eldest son inheritance as the main feature. With the support of a powerful feudal monarchy, this rule of succession quickly occupied the dominant position. The prevalent inheritance system of inheritance such as the inheritance of young children in the United Kingdom was confined to some areas. The inheritance model of property described above has maintained its stable structure for centuries afterwards, and the eldest son succession system has never encountered a large-scale challenge. However, since the first half of the 16th century, various circles of society mainly based on the British academic circles set off a big discussion on the mode of property inheritance. This large discussion has many scholars, unprecedented scale and more than a century of delaying, exerting a profound influence on many aspects of British history and culture.