Rules of Inheritance under English Common Law

[Steve]

The issue of Harry inheriting Sirius and perhaps the Black Family
Estate has come up often. In addition, I have been discussing with
others whether Tom Riddle claimed the Riddle Family Estate. For the
record, I think he did.
 
In the course of that discussion I discovered the following LINK-

Addressing the Duke and Inheriting his Loot
http://it.uwp.edu/lansdowne/als.html
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Which says in part-

Normal Rules for Inheritance of Property-

Under English Common Law all property descended to the eldest
surviving son, or if there were no surviving sons, then was equally
divided among the surviving daughters. If there were no daughters it
fell to the eldest brother. If there were no brothers it was equally
divided among sisters. If there were neither brothers nor sisters it
could not ascend to the father, uncles, grandfather etc. It always
descended, never ascended. Note that this differs from the rules for
titles, which could ascend (to an uncle, for instance).

Common Law made no provision whatever for a man's younger descendants
other than the eldest's obligation by honor to care for them. Not all
were honorable, however, and Common Law could and sometimes did leave
the younger descendants in dire straits, as all regency romance
readers are well aware (a favorite plot). Thus the origin of entails,
settlements and (later) wills. Major landowners (the nobility and the
landed gentry) needed a way to ensure that their younger children were
not left completely dependent on the primary heir. 
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This weakens my belief that Draco has some claim to the Black Family
Estate, but I haven't given up completely. From the above statement,
it seems that the remaining Black cousins might have some claim, but
with Male priority, it could still go to Draco. Harry only has a
chance it there is a Will.

The link shown above also discussed Entailments, which are provision
that are attached to an estate to help keep the wealth concentrated.

I found this and several other links by searching Google for
'Entailments Inheritance English Law'. 

Hope this sheds some light on the inheritance issues.

Steve/bboyminn