1841.] On the Laws and Law-books of the Armenians. 241 



force in Armenia during the reign of the Bagratian kings, with some 

 slight variations. In the days of the Arsacidse the crown devolved 

 from son to son in a lineal succession ; but the law of the Bagratidse 

 confers the right of succession upon brothers. There are also some 

 other laws, of which I shall furnish the reader with an extract: 

 " Although," says this legislator, " the crown by right devolves upon 

 the first-born, yet the most eminent for his wisdom is to succeed to the 

 throne. So long as the king's brothers survive him, his sons are 

 debarred from a succession to the throne. But, on the extinction 

 or demise of the brothers, then the crown devolves upon the king's 

 sons. Should the king leave a daughter surviving him, she is to 

 be invested with the title of nobility, and is, together with her hus- 

 band, entitled to one-half of a share of a brother. And, on the demise 

 of kings, if there be a son from the son, and a son from the daughter, 

 the son's son is to succeed to the throne, but not the daughter's. And 

 so long as there may be descendants of the son, the daughter's children 

 are debarred from succession, at which any attempt made by the latter 

 is unlawful and unjust. For, it was in this manner that our king 

 Abgarus enacted laws for the succession to the throne of Persia. And 

 the patriarch Noah apportioned to the sons and the daughter, the 

 regions of the southward, as women also rule over those parts." — 

 Then the legislator describes the manner in which the succession is to 

 descend when there be only a daughter, but no son surviving the king. 

 Or, if there be no heir to the king, then the right of succession devolves 

 on his kinsmen, one of whom only is to reside at the royal palace near 

 the king, and the rest are to be domiciled at a distance, according to 

 the custom prevalent among the former kings of Armenia. All this is 

 written by Mechithar Ghosh, in the commencement of the second chap- 

 ter of his code of laws. By the last quotation, the legislator means to 

 allude to that usage of the kings of the Arsacidse, of which mention 

 was made above. The law of succession was not, however, kept invio- 

 late during the reign of the Bagratidse, among whom there were 



ruption of the Persian word &**»*$ corresponding with^mpd or jE>wpij r vulgd 

 jgouiufy in Armenian. This appellative cognomen was added to the Christian 

 name of the Armenian legislator, in consequence of his having very little or no beard. 

 By this distinguishing appellation he is invariably mentioned throughout the works 

 of his cotemporaneous writers, and in the page of our national history. 



