ABDICATION, the act whereby a person in office renounces the same before the expiry of the time for which it is held. (Lat. abdicatio, from ab, from, and dicare, to proclaim as not belonging to one.) In Roman law, the term is especially applied to the disowning of a member of a family, as the disinheriting of a son, but the word is seldom used except in the sense of surrendering the supreme power in a State. Despotic sovereigns are at liberty to divest themselves of their powers at any time, but it is other wise with a limited monarchy. The throne of Great Britain can not be lawfully abdicated unless with the consent of the two Houses of Parliament. When James II. fled in 1688, he did not formally resign the Crown. and the question was discussed in parliament whether he had forfeited the throne or had abdicated.
Recent abdications include: Pu-yi (China) Feb. 12, 1912 ; Nicholas II. (Russia) Mar. 15, 1917 ; Ferdinand I. (Bulgaria) Oct. 3, 1918; William II. (Germany) Nov. 9, 1918; Frederick Augustus III. (Saxony) Nov. 9, 1918; Charles I. (Austria-Hun gary) Nov. 12, 1918; Louis III. (Bavaria) Nov. 13, 1918; Fred erick II. (Baden) Nov. 22, 1918; William II. (Wurttemberg) Dec. 2, 1918; George II.(Greece)Dec. 18, 1923 but restored to the throne Nov. 1935; Edward VIII. (Great Britain) Dec. 11, 1936.