1. The General Introduction describes primogeniture as a problematic and poor inheritance system. Primogeniture, transfers all property from the father to the eldest male heir. Greenblatt describes this as a flawed system due to the fact that more often than not, the father would not have a son to transfer his property to. "the orderly transmission of property from father to eldest male heir, was more often an unfulfilled wish than a reality. Some 40 percent of marriages failed to produce a son, and in such circumstances fathers often left their land to their daughters, rather than to brothers, nephews, or male cousins. In many families, the father died before his male heir was old enough to inherit property, leaving the land, at least temporarily,