Anorder,line orright of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated, such ashead of state or an honour such as atitle of nobility.[1] This sequence may be regulated through descent or by statute.[1]
Hereditary government form differs fromelected government. In hereditary succession, the heir is automatically determined based on the family they are born in.[2] In the case of non monarchical governments, political power is usually transferred from the head of state to other public officials to avoid a crisis.[3]
Organizations without hereditary or statutory order of succession requiresuccession planning if power struggles prompted bypower vacuums are to be avoided.
Research shows that authoritarian regimes that rely on primogeniture for succession were more stable than forms of authoritarian rule with alternative succession arrangements.[4][5][6][7][8][9] Scholars have linked primogeniture to a decline inregicide, as clear rules of succession reduce the number of people who could (absent acoup d'état) replace a ruler, thus making it less desirable to cause the death of the monarch.[10][11]
In male-preferenceprimogeniture (in the past called cognatic primogeniture) the monarch's eldest son and his descendants take precedence over his siblings and their descendants.[12][13] Elder sons take precedence over younger sons, and all sons take precedence over daughters.[12]
Absolute primogeniture is a law in which the eldest child of the sovereign succeeds to the throne, regardless of gender, and females (and their descendants) enjoy the same right of succession as males. This is currently the system inSweden (since 1980), theNetherlands (since 1983),Norway (since 1990),Belgium (since 1991),Denmark (since 2009),[14]Luxembourg (since 2011),[15] and in theUnited Kingdom and theCommonwealth realms (since 2013).[16][17][18]
TheSalic law, or agnatic succession, restricted the pool of potential heirs to males of the patrilineage, and altogether excluded females of the dynasty and their descendants from the succession, unless there were no living males to inherit.[19]
Agnatic-cognatic (or semi-Salic) succession, prevalent in much of Europe since ancient times, is the restriction of succession to those descended from or related to a past or current monarch exclusively through themale line of descent: descendants through females were ineligible to inherit unless no males of thepatrilineage remained alive.
In this form of succession, the succession is reserved first to all the male dynastic descendants of all the eligible branches by order ofprimogeniture, then upon total extinction of these male descendants to a female member of the dynasty.[20]
Some cultures pass honours down through the female line. A man's wealth and title are inherited by his sister's children, and his children receive their inheritance from their maternal uncles.[21]
Ultimogeniture is an order of succession where the subject is succeeded by the youngest son (or youngest child).[12]
Proximity of blood is a system wherein the person closest in degree of kinship to the sovereign succeeds, preferring males over females and elder over younger siblings. This is sometimes used as a gloss for "pragmatic" successions in Europe; it had somewhat more standing during theMiddle Ages everywhere in Europe.[22]
Porphyrogeniture is a system of political succession that favours the rights of sons born after their father has become king or emperor, over older siblings born before their father's ascent to the throne.
Examples of this practice includeByzantium and theNupe Kingdom.[23]: 33 In late 11th century England and Normandy, the theory of porphyrogeniture was used byHenry I of England to justify why he, and not his older brotherRobert Curthose, should inherit the throne after the death of their brotherWilliam Rufus.[24]: 105
In some societies, a monarchy or a fief was inherited in a way that all entitled heirs had a right to a share of it. The most prominent examples of this practice are the multiple divisions of theFrankish Empire under theMerovingian andCarolingian dynasties, and similarlyGavelkind in the British Isles.
A secundogeniture was a dependent territory given to a younger son of a princely house and his descendants, creating acadet branch.[25]
In seniority successions, a monarch's or fiefholder's next sibling (almost alwaysbrother), succeeds; not his children. And, if the royal house is more extensive, (male) cousins and so forth succeed, in order of seniority, which may depend upon actual age or upon the seniority between their fathers.
Therota system, from the Old Church Slavic word for "ladder" or "staircase", was a system of collateral succession practised (though imperfectly) inKievan Rus' and later Appanage and early Muscovite Russia.
In this system, the throne passed not linearly from father to son, but laterally from brother to brother and then to the eldest son of the eldest brother who had held the throne. The system was begun byYaroslav the Wise, who assigned each of his sons a principality based on seniority. When the Grand Prince died, the next most senior prince moved to Kiev and all others moved to the principality next up the ladder.[26]
Under aTanist system of succession, a ruler's successor was chosen from a parallel family line.[27]
Lateral orfraternal system of succession mandates principles of seniority among members of a dynasty or dynastic clan, with a purpose of election a best qualified candidate for the leadership. The leaders are elected as being the most mature elders of the clan, already in possession of military power and competence. Fraternal succession is preferred to ensure that mature leaders are in charge, removing a need for regents.[28]
In East Asia, the lateral succession system is first recorded in the pre-historical period starting with the lateShang dynasty'sWai Bing succeeding his brotherDa Ding, and then in connection with a conquest by the Zhou of the Shang, whenWu Ding was succeeded by his brotherZu Geng in 1189 BC and then by another brotherZu Jia in 1178 BC.[29]
When a monarch dies without a clear successor, a succession crisis often ensues, frequently resulting in awar of succession.[30] For example, when KingCharles IV of France died, theHundred Years War erupted between Charles' cousin,Philip VI of France, and Charles' nephew,Edward III of England, to determine who would succeed Charles as theKing of France.[31]
In recent years researchers have found significant connections between the types of rules governing succession in monarchies and autocracies and the frequency with which coups or succession crises occur.[32]
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Inrepublics, the requirement to ensurecontinuity of government at all times has resulted in most offices having some formalized order of succession.[33] In a country withfixed-term elections, thehead of state (president) is often succeeded following death, resignation, or impeachment by thevice president,parliament speaker,chancellor, orprime minister, in turn followed by various office holders of thelegislative assembly or othergovernment ministers.[34] In many republics, a new election takes place some time after the "presidency" becomes unexpectedly vacant.
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