THE SUCCESSION OF THE ELECTORAL PRINCES.
1. ... It is known and recognized throughout the world, that the king of
Bohemia, the count palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Saxony, and the
margrave of Brandenburg, by virtue of the principalities which they
possess, have the right to vote in the election of the king of the
Romans along with their coelectors, the ecclesiastical princes, and that
they with the ecclesiastical princes are the true and legal electoral
princes of the holy empire. In order to prevent disputes arising among
the sons of these secular electoral princes in regard to the electoral
authority and vote, which would be productive of delays dangerous to the
state and other evils, we have fixed the succession by the present law
which shall be valid forever. On the death of one of the secular
electoral princes his right, voice, and vote in the election shall
descend to his first-born son who is a layman; if the son has died
before this, to the son's first-born son who is a layman. If the
first-born lay son of the elector has died without legitimate lay sons,
by virtue of the present law the succession shall go to the elector's
next oldest lay son and then to his heirs, and so on according to the
law of primogeniture. In case the heir is under age the paternal uncle
of the heir shall act as guardian and administrator until the heir comes
of age, which shall be, in the case of electoral princes, at eighteen
years. Then the guardian shall immediately surrender to him the
electoral vote and authority and all the possessions of the electorate.
2. When any electorate falls vacant for lack of heirs, the emperor or
king of the Romans shall have the power to dispose of it, as if it
reverted to the empire, saving the rights, privileges, and customs of
the kingdom of Bohemia, according to which the inhabitants of that
kingdom have the right to elect their king in case of a vacancy.