AbdicationAbdication (from the Latin abdicatio disowning, renouncing, from ab, from, and dicare, to declare, to proclaim as not belonging to one), the act whereby a person in office renounces and gives up the same before the expiry of the time for which it is held. In Roman law, the term is especially applied to the disowning of a member of a family, as the disinheriting of a son, but in more recent times, the word is seldom used except in the sense of surrendering the supreme power in a state. A similar term for an elected or appointed official is resignation.
Abdications in classical antiquityAmong the most memorable abdications of antiquity may be mentioned that of Sulla the dictator, 79 BC, and that of the Emperor Diocletian, AD 305. The British CrownProbably the most famous abdication in recent memory is that of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom in 1936, who abdicated the British throne in order to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, over the objections of the Church of England and the royal family. (See Abdication Crisis of Edward VIII.) This was also the first time in history that the British crown was surrendered entirely voluntarily. Richard II of England, for example, was forced to abdicate after the throne was seized by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, while Richard was out of the country. When James II of England, after throwing the Great Seal of the Realm into the Thames, fled to France in 1688, he did not formally resign the crown, and the question was discussed in parliament whether he had forfeited the throne or had abdicated. The latter designation was agreed upon, for in a full assembly of the Lords and Commons, met in convention, it was resolved in spite of James's protest "that King James II having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by breaking the original contract between king and people, and, by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself out of this kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant." The Scottish parliament pronounced a decree of forfeiture and deposition. Modern AbdicationsHistorically, if a monarch abdicated it was seen as a profound and shocking abandonment of royal duty. Until at least the 20th Century monarchs held their thrones by divine right, and as a result to abandon the throne was seen as a borderline insult to God himself. As a result, abdications usually only occurred in the most extreme circumstances of political turmoil or violence. Today however, much of the stigma and taboo traditionally associated with abdication has declined, at least in constitutional monarchies. A monarch may now chose to abdicate when she simply feels she has gotten too old or tired for the job, or in the case of Edward VIII, because he has personal interests which cannot be persued as monarch. Because of this, many citizens of constitutional monarchies hold their monarchs to the same standards as politicians, and thus if a monarch acts in an undignified or improper way, the citizens may demand he or she abdicate, just as an unpopular politician may be pressured to resign. Most of the current monarchs of Europe are expected to resign sometime in the future. The era in which monarchs ruled until death may be over soon. ListThe following is a list of the important abdications:
Notes1Charles abdicated as king of the Netherlands (October 25, 1555) and of Spain (January 16, 1556), in favor of his son Philip II of Spain. Also in 1556 he separately voluntarily abdicated his German possessions and the title of Holy Roman Emperor. See also
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