AbdicatioN

ABDICATION (Lat. 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 the word is seldom used except

in the sense of surrendering the supreme power in a state.

Despotic sovereigns are at liberty to divest themselves of

their powers at any time, but it is otherwise with a limited

monarchy. The throne of Great Britain cannot be lawfully

abdicated unless with the consent of the two Houses of

Parliament. When James II., after throwing the great

seal 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 on, 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withdrawn himself out of this kingdom, has abdicated the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. Among the most memorable abdications of

antiquity may be mentioned that of Sulla the dictator, 79

B.C., and that of the Emperor Diocletian, A.D. 305. The

following is a list of the more important abdications of later

A.D.

Benedict IX., pope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048

Stephen II. of Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131

Albert (the Bear) of Brandenburg . . . . . . . . . . 1169

Ladislaus III. of Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206

Celestine V., pope . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dec. 13, 1294

John Baliol of Scotland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1296

John Cantacuzene, emperor of the East . . . . . . . 1355

Richard II. of England . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 29, 1399

John XXIII., pope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1415

Eric VII; of Denmark and XIII. of Sweden . . . . . . 1439

Murad II., Ottoman Sultan . . . . . . . . .1444 and 1445

Charles V., emperor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1556

Christina of Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1654

John Casimir of Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1618

James II. of England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1688

Frederick Augustus of Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . 1704

Philip V. of Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1724

Victor Amadeus II. of Sardinia . . . . . . . . . . . 1730

Ahmed III., Sultan of Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . 1730

Charles of Naples (on accession to throne of Spain). 1759

Stanislaus II. of Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1795

Charles Emanuel IV. of Sardinia . . . . . . June 4, 1802

Charles IV. of Spain . . . . . . . . . . . .Mar. 19, 1808

Joseph Bonaparte of Naples . . . . . . . . . June 6, 1808

Gustavus IV. of Sweden . . . . . . . . . . .Mar. 29, 1809

Louis Bonaparte of Holland . . . . . . . . . July 2, 1810

Napoleon I., French Emperor. . . . . . . . .April 4, 1814, and June 22, 1815

Victor Emanuel of Sardinia . . . . . . . . .Mar. 13, 1821

Charles X. of France . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 2, 1830

Pedro of Brazil 1 . . . . . . . . . . . .April 7, 1831

Miguel of Portgual . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 26, 1834

William I. of Holland . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 7, 1840

Louis Philippe, king of the French . . . . .Feb. 24, 1848

Louis Charles of Bavaria . . . . . . . . . .Mar. 21, 1848

Ferdinand of Austria . . . . . . . . . . . . Dec. 2, 1848

Charles Albert of Sardinia . . . . . . . . .Mar. 23, 1849

Leopold II. of Tuscany . . . . . . . . . . .July 21, 1859

Isabella II. of Spain . . . . . . . . . . . June 25, 1870

Amadeus I. of Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . Feb. 11, 1873

Alexander of Bulgaria . . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 7, 1886

Milan of Servia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mar. 6, 1889

1 Pedro had succeeded to the throne of Portugal in

1826, but abdicated it at once in favour of his daughter.

Source: An unnamed encyclopedia from a project that puts out-of-copyright texts into the public domain. This is from a *very* old source, and reflects the thinking of the turn of the last century. -- BryceHarrington