High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Succession to the British throne is governed both by common law and statute. Under common law the crown is inherited by male-preference cognatic primogeniture. In other words, succession passes first to an individual's sons, in order of birth, and subsequently to daughters, again in order of birth. Succession is also governed by the Act of Union 1800, which restates the provisions of the Act of Settlement 1701 and the Bill of Rights 1689. These laws restrict the succession to legitimate descendants of Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and debar those who are Roman Catholics or who have married Roman Catholics. Descendants of those debarred for being or marrying Roman Catholics, however, may still be eligible to succeed. The succession was also regulated by His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936, which excluded the abdicated king Edward VIII and his descendants from the throne; this act ceased to have any practical effect when Edward,...