Note (Back) — Chapter XXXIII

678. Regencies.—Any member of the royal family who may be incapable of governing, or who by his conduct may have forfeited his claim to the good-will of the nation, may be excluded from the succession by law. Disputes concerning rights or facts involved in the succession are to be adjusted by law, and in event that all of the family lines mentioned in the constitution should be extinguished it would become the duty of the Cortes to make such disposal of the crown as might be adjudged "most suitable to the nation."[851] Both the sovereign and the heir presumptive are forbidden to marry any person who by law is excluded from the succession. They are, indeed, forbidden to contract a marriage at all until after the Cortes shall have examined and approved the stipulations involved. The age of majority of the sovereign is fixed at sixteen years. When the king is a minor, his father or his mother, or, in default of a living parent, the relative who stands next in the order of succession, is constituted regent, provided always that such person be a Spaniard at least twenty years of age and not by law excluded from the succession. Should there be no one upon whom the regency may lawfully devolve, it is the duty of the Cortes to appoint a regency of one, three, or five persons. If, at any time, in the judgment of the Cortes, the sovereign becomes incapacitated to rule, a regency is required to be vested in the crown prince, provided he be sixteen years of age. In default of a qualified crown prince the regency devolves upon the queen; and in default of both son and queen, upon a person determined in accordance with the rules already mentioned.