SUCCESSION PROBLEM

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 21 December 1936, Page 5

SUCCESSION PROBLEM

THRONE OF ENGLAND PASSING OF NEW ACT URGED (United Press Association—By Electrio Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, 18th December. A special article in “The Times” urges the necessity for passing without delay a new Succession Act ''declaring to whom, in default of male heirs, the Crown would pass, as otherwise embarrassing legal differences might arise throughout the Empire when no authority exists to resolve them. The article explains that the Crown entails by the Act of Settlement “upon the heirs of the body of the Electress Sophia, being Protestants,” which creates a limitation to heirs in general. Thus Queen Victoria inherited to the exclusion of her uncles, as the eldest of the male line then ended in a daughter, but ambiguity arises when the line ends in a family of sisters. The article recalls that a constitutional authority in 1892 decided that there was no precedent in English law for interpreting Jthe Act of Settlement into preference for one Princess over her sisters. The position is now complicated by the Statute of Westminster, which strengthens the view held in 1892. Moreover, if the question is left in abeyance until the demise of the Crown the next succession may be to two or more sisters or their representatives.) The question between them could not be addressed to Parliament, which is incomplete without the Sovereign, or to the Law Courts, as the Judges have no authority until they have taken the oath of allegiance to the Crown. The only body able to act would be the Assembly of Peers, Privy Councillors, and others who draw up the Proclamation of the new King. Considering that each Dominion has an equal right to interpret the Act‘Of Settlement, it is not conclusive. Six interpretations would have to be identical, hence the necessity for an immediate settlement.

THEIR MAJESTIES LONDON, 20th December. Their Majesties and the Princesses are spending the week-end at the Royal Lodge. Windsor. This was the first occasion when the Queen had driven out since the accession. Queen Mary, a lone figure at the window of Marlborough House, watched the Coronation Proclamation. CORONATION DATE PROCLAIMED LONDON, 20th December. With a repetition of last week’s pageantry, heralds proclaimed the Coronation date and announced the appointment of the Duke of Gloucester to serve on the Coronation Claims Committee. The procession followed the customary route from St. James to the city. Except for references to the “Coronation of our beloved consort,” the proclamation followed the text of Edward’s on 28th May. The King has assumed the col-onelcy-in-chief of the Life Guards,; Horse Guards, Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers and five Foot Guards regiments.