From 1800, the monarchical principle represented a reaction to the doctrine of popular sovereignty. It stated that the authority of state did not lie, as that doctrine insisted and demanded in legal policy, in the hands of the people, but derived from the monarch (Monarchy). The status of the monarch was not derived from a constitutional provision, but purely from old-established legal titles like privilege and customary law, and it was acquired through inheritance within a dynasty (cf. Legitimacy; Legitimism). The monarchical principle therefore excluded any constit…
Monarchical principle(796 words)
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Brauneder, Wilhelm, “Monarchical principle”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 30 November 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_024217>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20200128
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