From the Middle Ages, there was another system of succession, known as cognatic male primogeniture, which actually fulfills apparent stipulations of the original Salic law: succession is allowed also through female lines, but excludes the females themselves in favour of their sons. For example, a grandfather, without sons, is succeeded by a son of his daughter, when the daughter in question is still alive. Or an uncle, with no children of his own, is succeeded by a son of his sister, when the sister in question is still alive.