法律

Laws are royal decrees that have a vital effect on the development of the realm.

Authority

Feudal and Clan governments have access to the Crown Authority Law, which can be increased after researching the required Innovation and can be changed once every 20 years. Tribal governments have access to the Tribal Authority Law and do not require Innovations to increase it and can be changed once every 10 years. The cost of changing the Authority Law scales with a Ruler's Realm Size and to a lesser extent the Ruler's  Learning Skill.

Authority	Level 1 effects	Level 2 effects	Level 3 effects	Level 4 effects
Crown	+10 Direct Vassal Opinion	Titles can be revoked Vassals can be retracted Enables all Partition Succession Laws Clan Government Vassals provide at least 2% Income Clan Government Vassals provide at least 5% Levies	Vassals cannot declare war on fellow Vassals without a Hook on the Liege Vassal Titles cannot be inherited by characters outside the Realm Enables all Succession Laws Enables changing Gender Law Refusing Title Revocation is a Crime Refusing Vassal Retraction is a Crime Refusing Imprisonment is a Crime Clan Government Vassals provide at least 5% Income Clan Government Vassals provide at least 15% Levies +10% Feudal Vassal Tax Contribution +10% Vassal Levy Contribution -10 Direct Vassal Opinion	Vassals cannot declare war without a Hook on the Liege Rulers can designate the Heir Clan Government Vassals provide at least 10% Income Clan Government Vassals provide at least 25% Levies +35% Feudal Vassal Tax Contribution +35% Vassal Levy Contribution -30 Direct Vassal Opinion
Tribal	+10 Direct Vassal Opinion	Characters can be Imprisoned Enables the Adopt Feudal Ways through Liege decision Enables the Adopt Clan Ways through Liege decision	Titles can be revoked Vassals can be retracted -10 Direct Vassal Opinion	Enables the Adopt Feudal Ways decision Enables the Adopt Clan Ways decision -30 Direct Vassal Opinion

Gender Law

The Gender Law determines which gender can inherit Titles and Claims and who can have more than one partner if its Faith Doctrines allow. Changing the Gender Law costs 500  Prestige and requires all Powerful Vassals to have a positive  Opinion of the Liege.

Law	Inheritance	Concubinage and Polygamy	Required Views on Gender doctrine
Male Only	Men only	Men only	Male Dominated
Male preference	Men take precedence	Men only	Male Dominated Equal
Equal	Both genders	Both genders	Equal
Female preference	Women take precedence	Women only	Equal Female Dominated
Female Only	Women only	Women only	Female Dominated

Realm Succession

The Realm Succession Law determines which and how many heirs will inherit the character's Titles upon death. Changing the Succession Law costs 500  Prestige and requires all Powerful Vassals to have a positive  Opinion of the Liege. All children will gain Claims on Titles they did not inherit regardless of the Realm Succession Law.

Heir number	Law	Required Innovation	Opinion	Effect
Multiple Heirs	Confederate Partition	Gavelkind	+5 Direct Vassal +5 House +10 Eligible Child	Upon succession, all Titles held by the late Ruler will be divided amongst their Eligible Children, with the Player Heir always being given the Primary Title, Realm Capital and any direct De Jure Titles associated with it. Younger children will be given Titles starting with those of the same Rank as the Primary Title, if none are available they will be given lower-ranking Titles. Children can not be preemptively granted Titles they do not stand to inherit. Younger children will have Titles created for them, if enough land is held.
	Partition	Hereditary Rule (Early Medieval Era)	+5 Direct Vassal +5 Eligible Child +10 Player Heir	Upon succession, all Titles held by the late Ruler will be divided amongst their Eligible Children, with the Player Heir always being given the Primary Title, Realm Capital and any direct De Jure Titles associated with it. Younger children will be given Titles starting with those of the same Rank as the Primary Title, if none are available they will be given lower-ranking Titles. Children can not be preemptively granted Titles they do not stand to inherit.
	High Partition	Heraldry (High Medieval Era)	+5 Direct Vassal +15 Player Heir	Upon succession, all Titles held by the late Ruler will be divided amongst their Eligible Children, with the Player Heir always being given the Primary Title, Realm Capital and any direct De Jure Titles associated with it. Younger children will be given Titles starting with those of the same Rank as the Primary Title, if none are available they will be given lower-ranking Titles. Children can not be preemptively granted Titles they do not stand to inherit. The Player Heir will always inherit at least half of the late Ruler's Titles.
Single Heir	Primogeniture	Primogeniture (Late Medieval Era)	+20 Player Heir -5 Eligible Child	Upon succession, all of the late Ruler's Titles will be given to the Player Heir, which is their oldest Eligible Child. Younger children will receive nothing.
	Ultimogeniture	Primogeniture (Late Medieval Era)	+20 Player Heir -5 Eligible Child	Upon succession, all of the late Ruler's Titles will be given to the Player Heir, which is their youngest Eligible Child. Older children will receive nothing.
	House Seniority	Heraldry (High Medieval Era)	+5 House -5 Direct Vassal -15 Eligible Child	Upon succession, all of the late Ruler's Titles will be given to the oldest eligible member of their House. Your children will not be given anything, unless one of them happens to be the oldest House member.

Title Succession

Feudal Rulers can apply a Title Succession Law on Duchy, Kingdom or Empire titles at the cost of 1500  Prestige. Note that this will only affect the succession law for the title in question; other titles the character holds will be distributed normally. (This can lead to unexpected results.)

Law	Direct Vassal Opinion	Effect	Requirements
Feudal Elective	+10	The Ruler and all direct De Jure Vassals of one or two Ranks below the Title can nominate an Heir from amongst themselves and the Close Family of the Ruler.	Not Anglo-Saxon culture Not North Germanic culture group
Saxon Elective	+5	The Ruler and all direct De Jure Vassals of one or two Ranks below the Title can nominate an Heir from the most Powerful Vassals amongst them, the Ruler's Legitimate children, and any other valid Claimant.	Anglo-Saxon cultue Title rank is kingdom or empire
Scandinavian Elective	+5	The Ruler and all De Jure Vassals (except Barons) can nominate an Heir amongst the Ruler's Extended Family and any available Claimants. Voting Power in this Succession Law is influenced by the Elector's total Domain Development and Capital Popular Opinion.	North Germanic culture group
Tanistry Elective	+5	The Ruler and Vassals of one or two Ranks below the Title can nominate an Heir - the Tanist - from among the members of the Ruler's Dynasty. Vassals will tend to favor older, distant relatives over Close Family.	Brythonic or Goidelic culture group Title rank is kingdom or empire
Princely Elective	+10	The Emperor and the seven Prince-Electors can nominate an Heir from amongst themselves, any Legitimate children and siblings of the ruler, as well as any other major De Jure Vassal of the Empire. If an historical elector Title is held by infidels or does not exist, another De Jure Vassal will take its place. This Succession Law places a significant importance on Faith and Piety. The Electoral Titles for this realm are the Counties of Cologne, Mainz and Trier, and the Duchies Bohemia, East Franconia, Ostfalen and Ostmark. Removing this Law costs 10000 Prestige.	Holy Roman Empire title

Strategies

• Monitor which holdings will be lost upon succession: Click the "Succession" tab under the "Realm" window.
• Get out of Confederate Partition as soon as possible: It is the only succession law which creates new titles upon succession, thus almost guaranteeing a split in the player's realm unless the player restricts the realm to the De Jure Counties of their primary duchy or kingdom. If expanding, they should aim to occupy at most 50% of other duchies/ kingdoms to avoid having enough land to cause a split.
  • Tribal realms are locked to Confederate Partition; they must reform to either Clan or Feudal government before being able to select other succession types.
• If you have a partition succession and multiple heirs, you may want to remove all heirs except one, if possible, so that your primary heir inherits all titles. This is difficult to do, but there are ways. (Sons with low prowess can be forced to serve as knights, and may die in combat. If you are the dynasty head, you can disinherit all heirs but one. If you have the sadistic personality trait, you can use murder schemes against your children. Etc.)
• If an event allows you to choose an "elective" title succession law, be aware that this only applies to the title in question. For instance, if you play as the King of Scotland (Goidelic culture group) and you have partition succession, switching Scotland to "Tanistry Elective" will not affect how your duchies and counties are distributed. When you die, if your primary heir is not your tanist, you may find yourself playing a new king with very few holdings and a great deal of internal "border gore".
  • If you have another kingdom in addition to Scotland, then Scotland will be completely removed from partition. All your titles under de jure Scotland will be inherited by the tanist, and your children will inherit the second kingdom and other external titles. This will split your former realm but you will not lose all your domain. On the other hand, if this second kingdom is also under tanistry, it will also be removed from partition and your children will only divide your titles outside of both kingdoms. This will not split your realm, but the electors in both kingdoms have to elect the same person.
  • If you only have one kingdom with tanistry and partition, you can save your domain by adding tanistry law to your duchies. This is expensive (1500 prestige) but such a duchy will be removed from partition and its de jure counts (which is usually only you) will vote for the successor of the duchy title. You should appoint the same person who is going to inherit the kingdom.