๑๖๘
|
sometimes an answer in the affirmative is given by saluting with the hands or an inclinations of the head. The King is then formally proclaimed and the words “elected by the people” are added to his titles. | ||
| This custom was continued to the Fifth Reign. King Chulalongkorn then made an innovation by creating a Crown Prince, who succeeded to the Throne without question, the formality at the death of the King being a sort of proclamation only. | ||
| King Rama 6th, not having any son, it was resided (desided) in a Cabinet Council that he should be succeeded by his full brothers. Later he made a Law of succession. | ||
| This Law of Succession contains 2 distinct principles i.e. the Principle of election and the Principle of Hereditary succession. In this law it starts by saying that the King reserves the absolute right of appointing any member of the Royal Family as his Successor. But should the King die without having appointed a Successor, the Succession will go to his sons. This sounds straight-forward enough, but a complication arises here owing to the habit of polygamy. The Law specifies that the sons of Somdetch Phra Rajini should have the precedence over the others. Then the preference goes to the sons of the mother next in rank to the queen (there are 4 different ranks and descending the scale of finally to the sons of concubines). Again this sounds all right in principle, if it were not for the fact that a concubine may be raised in rank at any time, AND the Queen herself may have her rank lowered according to the whims of the King. This, to my mind, creates very great possibilities of complications. I would suggest that priority of the sons be regulated by the birth ranks of the mothers. I mean priority be given to the sons born of a Princess, such as daughters of a King, then nieces of a King and so on. If there are more than one son of mothers of the same rank, the succession would then go by the seniority in age of those Princes. When there are no sons the succession would go to the King’s brothers. According to the Law as it is the priority is still regulated by the created rank of the mothers. I would suggest the same modification as above. The next question is that the Law does not make it quite clear, when there being no brothers left or when the one who should have succeeded has died. Whether all the sons of that Prince would be eligible to the |
