When it comes to the word inheritance, many people should not be confused. As the name suggests, inheritance is the inheritance of another person's property or political assets after his or her death. The most common combination of this type of inheritance is between parents and children. But when it comes to the second lexicon, many people may be confused.
Because the word is not common, it can even be said to be very rare. So what does this word mean? Let me use the position of emperor as an example to explain that in Chinese history, the word emperor was used very casually. The supreme ruler is called the emperor, and even the head of the village is called the emperor of the soil. But in Europe and the United States, the word emperor is not used casually.
Why? This brings us to the meaning of the word legal system. The so-called legal system is the succession between states, for example, there was the Roman Empire in Europe. The Roman Empire later became the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire, and after the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire, the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne inherited the legal system of the Western Roman Empire.
Thus Charlemagne could call himself emperor, the same example, after the collapse of the Frankish Empire, after the evolution of the Kingdom of East Francia into the Holy Roman Empire. Otto I inherited Charlemagne's Frankish empire and therefore also proclaimed himself emperor. Back to the Eastern Roman Empire, which was later wiped out by the Ottoman Empire, the rulers of the Ottoman Empire although not called emperor.
But inherited the legal system of the Eastern Roman Empire, and because the niece of the last monarch of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantine XI, married the Grand Duke of Russia. So Russia also claimed to have inherited the legal system of the Eastern Roman Empire, and later established the Russian Empire. Except for these few countries in Europe, the monarchs of other countries can only be called kings, not emperors.
For example, the famous Sun King Louis XIV, and Frederick II. The credit is great, but because there is no legal system, he cannot be called the emperor, and he can only use the title of the emperor. So why do Europe and the United States attach so much importance to inheritance and legal system? Regarding the reasons for the importance of inheritance, I wrote in "Why are there so many queens in the West who have more than a dozen children?" has been analyzed in detail in the article.
I won't go into detail here. To put it simply, because of the restrictions of Catholic monogamy in Europe, heirs are very scarce. Therefore, sometimes there will be no heirs, and how the inheritance should be distributed is a matter of great importance. So why do we attach importance to the legal system? I think this is a measure taken by the Catholic Church to maintain its power.
Why? Because the Catholic Church, as the highest administrative body of the Catholic Church, is above all the secular monarchs of Europe. But he still needs a secular monarch to rule over all other secular monarchs, and the emperor is the best ruler. Because the emperor is one rank higher than the king in the legal system, he can suppress the kings of all the kingdoms of Europe.
But if the rule of law is not valued, all kings call themselves emperors. Then who is the emperor, who will rule whom? Europe was immediately in turmoil, and for the Catholic Church, chaos meant instability. In the midst of chaos, it is also more difficult for the Catholic Church to establish its authority, so it tries to avoid chaos. What do netizens think about this? Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area and communicate with me.