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Japan has passed legislation paving the way for 83-year-old Emperor Akihito to abdicate. The law sets the stage for the first abdication of a reigning monarch in two centuries, in a royal family which has a history stretching back 2,600 years.
[...] According to the 1947 Imperial House Law that regulates the line of imperial succession, the emperor cannot step down. The last Japanese monarch to abdicate was Emperor Kokaku, who left in favor of his son back in 1817.
Another issue the Japanese government will discuss is the continuity of the heirs, as women are not allowed to inherit the throne. Additionally, a woman from the imperial family who marries outside the family is then excluded. Akihito has another son, Prince Akishino, and a grandson, Hisahito, aged just 10. All the other members of the royal family are female.
Source: RT
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday June 13 2017, @05:42AM (2 children)
Charles can't abdicate his claim, the best he can do is abdicate after being declared King. Might only be a King for an instant, but he still has to be King to abdicate. Of course the Parliaments of the Commonwealth could change the succession law again but it doesn't seem likely.
The Statute of Westminster, over the objections of the King, makes all the members of the Commonwealth equal, including in deciding changes to the succession. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Westminster_1931 [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday June 14 2017, @12:44AM (1 child)
And he's got precedent, having married a divorcee.
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday June 14 2017, @04:54AM
It's a good excuse if Parliament decided to push him out like they did with Edward. Parliament is Supreme, something Americans forget with all their talk about George the Third being a Tyrant, whereas the Supremacy of Parliament was settled back in 1688 or so when they fired James the Second along with his son.