- Location
- Op een dag, Nederland.
- Pronouns
- she/her & ne/nem
I know no flashy stuff today, but here's some key notes on how the British succession law works.
The British succession law is known as one of the least systematic of all European succession laws, with even one French king remarking – ‘the British treat a crown like they would treat a cup’. Indeed, there are very few distinctions made between inheritance of title and inheritance of possessions.
The basic principle is one of house primacy. The head of house determines the succession, for the house is his property, deriving from an analogue between physical houses and family houses. This also covers succession within his house, as no noble title can pass from one person to another without the head of house having signed off on it. This too includes the princes of flame, which are defined by their being under the royal house Pendragon. They receive a prestigious rank, but are denied independence to determine their succession like more minor houses.
However, because of the largeness some houses can get, a head of house can designate a ‘cadet’ house with a head of the cadet house being appointed by the head of the core house and this appointment has to be renewed every time there is a succession of either head. The ‘cadet’ head can determine a different succession, handle internal succession such as wills and who gets what when someone dies without one, and determine who holds noble titles. However, their authority is always subject to that of the head of the core house, who has the power to revoke their role.
A noble title is regarded as a contract between the house in question and the royal court, therefore the royal court can revoke it at any time but must give grounds for doing so. The monarch can intervene in any non-Pendragon succession to overrule the head of house, but this is extremely rare and would be widely seen as overreaching their bounds, even if fully legal.
The main importance of any succession is the willingness. In British succession law, you cannot succeed to a title unless you are willing to accept the role. This principle was coined in the 17th century as a way to curb the increasing amount of foreign people unwittingly holding peerages as a result of a series of Kings abusing the title-granting powers for revenue. If you are not willing to accept the title, you are then regarded as legally ‘dead’ for purposes of succession, and your heirs would inherit through you.
The legitime is the last remaining bound on any succession, as it denies even the head of house from disinheriting their immediate family [children, siblings, parents] completely. This rule descends from ancient Latin succession, and is regarded those days as a key way to ensure that succession follows the house, and not the individual. It is also extended, in a limited way, to bar any head of house from giving any inherited titles to people not regarded as of their house, as that violates the contract between the house and the court. The position of Dôn di Sew Muison is one such rank that has many examples being permitted to be sold outside the house, seemingly contrasting the name given to it. This was because it was used as a source of revenue and still is those days albeit not as much as it was before the Senate stepped in.
Apart from that, the succession is entirely decentralised, with the houses having their own ways of succession. The most preferred way is those days absolute primogeniture, with agnatic-cognatic a close second. The fact that in Britain, your surname is determined by your house, not by your father, and your house is determined by the highest in rank (unless the head of the higher-ranking house deems otherwise), makes more absolute and agnatic-cognatic successions seem more natural.
However, there are still those that practise some form of seniority-determined succession, tanistry-like successions often happen within a few major houses to prevent one such branch from expelling the rest, there are a few houses that practise ultimogeniture still and there’s one or two that define kinship through the Arabic concept of ‘rada’, or milk-kinship and hence inheritance through that. This one was considerably popular in the early years of British Islam and after the ‘turn to Mecca’ in the 15th century, but faded out afterwards.
There are notably every rule under the sun for gender determination, from the most strict of Salic laws where only the male can inherit, to what is called the ‘Amazon succession’ in British inheritance law where only women can inherit. Since the gender revolution, such laws have been gradually made unpopular but there still remains a hesitance on the government’s part to legislate on succession.
The Black Book of Castreleon is this absurdly large book with thousands of wide pages and each single house [both core and cadet] covered by the British peerage has their succession law written out in painstaking detail, including exempt lineages. The ‘Chief Author’ of the Black Book is a role that is in of itself inheritable, but the role is under the authority of the House Pendragon since the Black Book is regarded as Pendragon property for legal purposes. The process of digitalising the Black Book has been proceeding at an ample pace for decades, headed by a modernising Chief Author.
In any form of dispute in succession, the house in question can elect to appeal to the royal court for arbitration. The royal court nowadays is widely considered to be more or less investing their power in the Senate and Council. The two will, if called upon, set up a committee of their most learned members and ex-members [the later via a writ of resurgence [1] if they are deemed needed by a majority of the Senate] to determine the matter, and when the committee is in session, they are deemed the ultimate authority, the final court, in this matter. The committee has to be invested in their authority by the monarchy separately after being recommended by the Senate and Council.
The most amusing case in modern succession law is the one determining if a robot constructed by one person, with clear artificial intelligence, can genuinely inherit as their scion. The committee ruled that since the robot was determined to be a ‘thinking being’, was ‘made of [the inventor’s] labour’ and was regarded by her house as ‘her daughter, in all but blood’, the old laws covering adoption as a valid route of succession was found applicable and hence yes, the position of head of house would go to the robot. This caused a lot of controversy and calls for the government to legislate on this matter, but since the calls fell into calling for ‘non-humans’ to be barred, it caused a lot of backlash and went nowhere.
[1] The 'writ of resurgence' can essentially recall people who are no longer in the legislature to serve as ones for purposes of committees or cabinet positions. They do not have the power to vote, but it is a way to both ensure more experienced people get in committees [such is the justification] or get around the awkward fact that all the cabinet has to be sitting in the legislature, and there wasn't an upper house until the 1920s to shuffle election-losers to. It is widely used as a replacement for the long-unpopular hereditary seats and the much more controversial ‘writ of summons’ [which essentially creates a full senator with power of voting], even if it is still seen as a very undemocratic and somewhat-chumocratic measure.
The British succession law is known as one of the least systematic of all European succession laws, with even one French king remarking – ‘the British treat a crown like they would treat a cup’. Indeed, there are very few distinctions made between inheritance of title and inheritance of possessions.
The basic principle is one of house primacy. The head of house determines the succession, for the house is his property, deriving from an analogue between physical houses and family houses. This also covers succession within his house, as no noble title can pass from one person to another without the head of house having signed off on it. This too includes the princes of flame, which are defined by their being under the royal house Pendragon. They receive a prestigious rank, but are denied independence to determine their succession like more minor houses.
However, because of the largeness some houses can get, a head of house can designate a ‘cadet’ house with a head of the cadet house being appointed by the head of the core house and this appointment has to be renewed every time there is a succession of either head. The ‘cadet’ head can determine a different succession, handle internal succession such as wills and who gets what when someone dies without one, and determine who holds noble titles. However, their authority is always subject to that of the head of the core house, who has the power to revoke their role.
A noble title is regarded as a contract between the house in question and the royal court, therefore the royal court can revoke it at any time but must give grounds for doing so. The monarch can intervene in any non-Pendragon succession to overrule the head of house, but this is extremely rare and would be widely seen as overreaching their bounds, even if fully legal.
The main importance of any succession is the willingness. In British succession law, you cannot succeed to a title unless you are willing to accept the role. This principle was coined in the 17th century as a way to curb the increasing amount of foreign people unwittingly holding peerages as a result of a series of Kings abusing the title-granting powers for revenue. If you are not willing to accept the title, you are then regarded as legally ‘dead’ for purposes of succession, and your heirs would inherit through you.
The legitime is the last remaining bound on any succession, as it denies even the head of house from disinheriting their immediate family [children, siblings, parents] completely. This rule descends from ancient Latin succession, and is regarded those days as a key way to ensure that succession follows the house, and not the individual. It is also extended, in a limited way, to bar any head of house from giving any inherited titles to people not regarded as of their house, as that violates the contract between the house and the court. The position of Dôn di Sew Muison is one such rank that has many examples being permitted to be sold outside the house, seemingly contrasting the name given to it. This was because it was used as a source of revenue and still is those days albeit not as much as it was before the Senate stepped in.
Apart from that, the succession is entirely decentralised, with the houses having their own ways of succession. The most preferred way is those days absolute primogeniture, with agnatic-cognatic a close second. The fact that in Britain, your surname is determined by your house, not by your father, and your house is determined by the highest in rank (unless the head of the higher-ranking house deems otherwise), makes more absolute and agnatic-cognatic successions seem more natural.
However, there are still those that practise some form of seniority-determined succession, tanistry-like successions often happen within a few major houses to prevent one such branch from expelling the rest, there are a few houses that practise ultimogeniture still and there’s one or two that define kinship through the Arabic concept of ‘rada’, or milk-kinship and hence inheritance through that. This one was considerably popular in the early years of British Islam and after the ‘turn to Mecca’ in the 15th century, but faded out afterwards.
There are notably every rule under the sun for gender determination, from the most strict of Salic laws where only the male can inherit, to what is called the ‘Amazon succession’ in British inheritance law where only women can inherit. Since the gender revolution, such laws have been gradually made unpopular but there still remains a hesitance on the government’s part to legislate on succession.
The Black Book of Castreleon is this absurdly large book with thousands of wide pages and each single house [both core and cadet] covered by the British peerage has their succession law written out in painstaking detail, including exempt lineages. The ‘Chief Author’ of the Black Book is a role that is in of itself inheritable, but the role is under the authority of the House Pendragon since the Black Book is regarded as Pendragon property for legal purposes. The process of digitalising the Black Book has been proceeding at an ample pace for decades, headed by a modernising Chief Author.
In any form of dispute in succession, the house in question can elect to appeal to the royal court for arbitration. The royal court nowadays is widely considered to be more or less investing their power in the Senate and Council. The two will, if called upon, set up a committee of their most learned members and ex-members [the later via a writ of resurgence [1] if they are deemed needed by a majority of the Senate] to determine the matter, and when the committee is in session, they are deemed the ultimate authority, the final court, in this matter. The committee has to be invested in their authority by the monarchy separately after being recommended by the Senate and Council.
The most amusing case in modern succession law is the one determining if a robot constructed by one person, with clear artificial intelligence, can genuinely inherit as their scion. The committee ruled that since the robot was determined to be a ‘thinking being’, was ‘made of [the inventor’s] labour’ and was regarded by her house as ‘her daughter, in all but blood’, the old laws covering adoption as a valid route of succession was found applicable and hence yes, the position of head of house would go to the robot. This caused a lot of controversy and calls for the government to legislate on this matter, but since the calls fell into calling for ‘non-humans’ to be barred, it caused a lot of backlash and went nowhere.
[1] The 'writ of resurgence' can essentially recall people who are no longer in the legislature to serve as ones for purposes of committees or cabinet positions. They do not have the power to vote, but it is a way to both ensure more experienced people get in committees [such is the justification] or get around the awkward fact that all the cabinet has to be sitting in the legislature, and there wasn't an upper house until the 1920s to shuffle election-losers to. It is widely used as a replacement for the long-unpopular hereditary seats and the much more controversial ‘writ of summons’ [which essentially creates a full senator with power of voting], even if it is still seen as a very undemocratic and somewhat-chumocratic measure.