Demise of the Crown

The demise of the Crown is the legal term for the end of a reign by a king, queen regnant, or emperor, whether by death or abdication.

The term was coined in English law to signify the immediate transfer (Law French demise, "sending down [the line of succession]", from Latin demiss-[gender ending], the perfect participle of demittere, having the same meaning), of sovereignty and royal prerogatives to the late king or queen's successor without interregnum. By confusion, "demise" is sometimes interpreted as referring to the death of the Sovereign rather than to the transfer of the Crown. This erroneous meaning is undermined by the principle in constitutional law of the continuity of the monarchy, as expressed in the ancient Medieval maxim "the Crown never dies" expressed by Sir William Blackstone.

Upon the Crown's demise, in the United Kingdom, a meeting of the Accession Council is held in London in order to give directions for the proclamation of the late monarch's successor. This meeting is to arrange for the formalities; neither the identity nor the accession to the throne of the next monarch depends on it. The proclamation takes place at St James's Palace, Charing Cross, within the City Boundary at Temple Bar, and the Royal Exchange. In Canada the Queen's Privy Council for Canada meets in Ottawa to perform the same functions, as does Australia's Federal Executive Council in Canberra, the Executive Council of New Zealand in Wellington and equivalent bodies in the remaining Realms as their shared Monarch holds each of the Crown separately from the others in a personal union.

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