Graded Lie algebras of maximal class of type $n$

Let $n>1$ be an integer. The algebras of the title, which we abbreviate as algebras of type $n$, are infinite-dimensional graded Lie algebras $L= \bigoplus_{i=1}^{\infty}L_i$,whicharegeneratedbyanelementofdegree$1$andanelementofdegree$n$,andsatisfy$[L_i,L_1]=L_{i+1}$for$i\ge n$. Algebras of type $2$ were classified by Caranti and Vaughan-Lee in 2000 over any field of odd characteristic. In this paper we lay the foundations for a classification of algebras of arbitrary type $n$, over fields of sufficiently large characteristic relative to $n$. Our main result describes precisely all possibilities for the first constituent length of an algebra of type $n$, which is a numerical invariant closely related to the dimension of its largest metabelian quotient.