Claims to a crown

There are five ways in which a person lays claim to a crown, ordered here by their strengths.^[1] This ordering is based on possession.

1. Right of Conquest: If one overthrows the monarch, taking the crown and kingdom by force, and holds them, then one is monarch. Usurpation and deposing of the monarch fall into this category.^[2]
2. Presumption: In the absence of a monarch, if one lays claim the crown and kingdom without resistance and can hold them, then one is monarch.^[3]
3. Right of Royal Succession: When the monarch dies, should the law prescribe the succession of the crown and kingdom, and one is numbered first in that succession, then one is monarch, so long as no other person usurps the crown.^[4]
4. Right of Nomination: Should the monarch die leaving one as the designated heir, in the absence of law prescribing succession of the crown and kingdom, then one is monarch, so long as no other person usurps the crown and one can quell all other claimants.^[5]
5. Right of Kinship: Should the monarch die leaving no designated heir, and in the absence of law prescribing succession of the crown and kingdom, and one is the closest relative by kinship to the deceased monarch, then one is monarch, so long as no other person usurps the crown and one can quell all other claimants.^[6]

See also

• Order of succession
• Divine right of kings
• Legitimacy (political)
• Might makes right
• Enthronement

References

1. ↑
   • Middleton, John (2004). "Monarchy". World Monarchies and Dynasties. Routledge. p. 629. ISBN 978-0765680501. 
2. ↑
   • Leung, Philip (2007). "Legitimization and Consolidation in Norman England". The Legitimation of New Orders: Case Studies in World History. The Chinese University Press. pp. 183–191. ISBN 978-9629962395. 
3. ↑ "Richard III 1483-5 AD". http://www.britannia.com. Retrieved 23 July 2015.  External link in |website= (help)
4. ↑ "Succession and precedence". http://www.royal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on March 13, 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.  External link in |website= (help)
5. ↑
   • Barchet, Bruno (2015). "The Consolidation of the Hereditary Principle as the Basis for Royal Legitimacy". A History of Western Public Law: Between Nation and State. Springer; 2015 edition. p. 180. ISBN 978-3319118024. 
6. ↑ Watt, Nicholas (October 27, 2011). "Royal equality act will end succession of first born male - rather than older sister". http://www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 21 July 2015. Elizabeth I only gained the crown because her elder half-sister, Mary – a woman and a Catholic – died young and childless. She in turn had only become the first queen of England because there were no males left in the Tudor line once young.  External link in |website= (help)