SALIC LAW OF SUCCESSION

the rule by which, in certain sovereign dynasties, persons whose descent from a previous sovereign is traced only through a woman are excluded from succession to the throne. Gradually formulated in France, the rule takes its name from the Lex Salica, or the law of the Salian Franks (see Salic Law). From Hugh Capet (d. 996) to Philip IV (d. 1314), the Capetian dynasty was not faced with any problem about succession to the throne of France, because each king had a son who could take his place. Only when the dynasty ended in the early 14th century was the principle established whereby women were excluded from succession to the French throne. During the same period, the corollary principle came to be accepted, namely, that descent from a daughter of a French king could not be admitted as constituting a claim to royal succession. During the 14th and 15th centuries, attempts were made to provide juridical grounds for the exclusion of women from the royal succession; the main reason adduced in each case was custom, with Roman law and the priestly character of kingship also noted. During this time the Salic Law was first mentioned. The text of the Salic Law was taken up by expositors of the theory of royal power in the 16th century, who advanced it as a fundamental law of the kingdom. In 1593 the authority of the Salic Law was expressly invoked to set aside the candidature for the French throne of the Spanish infanta Isabella, granddaughter of Henry II of France by his daughter's marriage to Philip II of Spain, despite the strongly pro-Spanish attitude of the dominant faction in Paris at the time. Thenceforward, the Salic Law was invariably accepted as a fundamental law of the kingdom, even if it was not always given as the reason for excluding women from the throne. In England, Scandinavia, and Angevin Naples (12651442), there was no principle against succession by daughters in default of sons. In Spain, likewise, there was no such principle until Philip V, the first Spanish king to come from the French Bourbon dynasty, introduced the Salic Law by his Auto Acordado of 1713.