Which succession law applies to king/duke/count titles held by an emperor?

Question

Which succession law applies to king/duke/count titles held by an emperor? I found this answer that says the emperor title is separate from the duchy/kingdom, but the answer does not elaborate.

(Obviously, the emperor title is inherited based on the succession laws of the empire.)

Edit: I'm looking for an explanation of the general rules that are applied, not how to find the succession law in force for a specific title at a specific instant in time.

Edit 2: As I understand, when your character holds multiple titles, the succession law of your primary title usually "supersedes" the succession laws of other titles. For example

1. If you hold 1 king title, or your highest title is count or duke, the succession law of your primary title applies to all of your titles.
2. If you hold multiple king titles (and no emperor title), each king title has its own succession law. (see this answer for more)
3. What if you hold an emperor title and no king titles?
4. What if you hold an emperor title and 1 king title?
5. What if you hold an emperor title and multiple king titles?

Answer 1

Open up your character window, and hover your mouse over your titles. An infobox should now appear, showing you the name of the title, the succession law and the line of succession.

I do not know a way to change the laws other than the one for your primary title, however. :/

EDIT:
Ok, I think I understand now. I believe it the core of the answer is whether or not a title is a de jure vassal to one of your greater titles. The succession law of a title will always be determined by the greatest title you hold in that "realm". If you have titles in other "realms", those will be determined separately.

• For example, if you are King of Ireland and the Duke of Munster (which is de jure part of Ireland), then the duchy will inherit the succession law of the Kingdom of Ireland.
• However, if you are also the Duke of East Anglia (de jure part of England), then that duchy will have its own succession laws.
• If you also hold the title of King of England, then the duchy of East Anglia will inherit its succession laws from England (which are separate from the succession laws of Ireland, even if you hold both titles).
• Now, if you also happen to be Emperor of Brittania, then I assume all the titles from within that realm inherit the succession laws from your primary title.
• Should you hold titles which are not de jure part of Brittania (say, King of Poland), then those will have their own laws, and the chain will start over from count to emperor, depending on your greatest title within that "realm".

PS: I know my use of the word 'realm' may be a bit different from the one used in game, but I could not find one that fit. What I mean by "realm", is a collection of titles which are de jure connected under one greater title which you control. I hope my intentions comes across despite this.

Answer 2

I have a current game – started under version 2.2 and upgraded through 2.4.2 – where I'm Emperor of Britannia, King of Scotland, Ireland and England and have vassal King of Wales. The inheritance laws must indeed be changed separately for Britannia, Scotland, Ireland and England – all of them are now Primogeniture, but I think I had to change Scotland from some form of elective when I usurped the title. I don't have control over the inheritance laws in Wales.

I have two duchies, both in de jure England, one of which contains my capital (I moved to Middlesex/London, after I finally squashed Usurped the English). These both follow the Primogeniture law, which doesn't really help us determine whether they follow the Kingdom or the Empire's laws.

I do have one county in both Wales and Scotland, so I can quickly test the succession laws for counties under titles you do and do not control. The Wales county may or may not have de jure drifted into England.

I also created two Kingdoms in Africa for the Prestige and was depressed to see that these were created with Agnatic-Cognatic Gavelkind succession.

I will do a series of experiments and report the succession laws that apply:

• Create or revoke a duchy under a Kingdom I control other than England, my primary kingdom.
• Create or revoke a duchy under a Kingdom I don't control, but belongs to a vassal.
  • Experiment: Kingdom of Castille, existing and held by my direct vassal with current succession law AC-Elective. Created the Duchy of Castille, de jure part of this Kingdom and it recieved AC-Primogeniture, my succession Law. It is de-facto part of my empire, not the Kingdom of Castile.
    I can't change my succession law, because some vassals are fighting each other, so I might have to create several more Empires to get them in line.
• Create, revoke or usurp a Duchy under a Kingdom that doesn't exist. (This will probably be under the Holy Roman Empire, which has a lot of duchies and no kingdoms at this point. It probably won't follow the HRE succession laws.)
• Get a duchy under a Kingdom that is completely outside my Empire. (I'll probably have to grant independence to an African kingdom to pull this off. Getting a Duchy under an independent kingdom is probably going to be slow and painful.)
  • I have briefly held duchies that were holy-warred from Muslim Kings who were under Open succession, which can't be used by Catholic rulers. These defaulted to Primogeniture, the succession law of my Empire at the time. It may or may not work differently.

I fortunately have Imperial Administration, so I should be able to revoke duchies and heal up the rifts reasonably well enough to meet the 'no vassals have negative opinion of you' to test succession law changes. If anyone can think of other scenarios that I can pull off without too much more trouble I'll be glad to add them.