Lady Jane Grey should have been allowed to rule England as Queen instead of Mary.

ARGUMENTThis round I presume is solely for opening arguments, and therefore I will refrain from any rebuttals of my opponents arguments until the next round (much to my dismay). For this round I will divide my argument into two fundamental subdivisions. These being: D1: General ReasonsD2: Specific ReasonsWhat I mean by D1 is that I will attempt to show how in the average case in a monarchical succession Mary I deserved to be Queen as opposed to Jane. For D2 I will provide specific reasonings from the event itself to further strengthen my argument. Enough with the outline, let's begin!D1: General Reasons1. Mary is the first in line after Edward VIIThis point is relatively simple. Mary was the eldest (legitimate) daughter of Henry VIII, followed by her sister Elizabeth, and then her brother Edward. Stated in Common Law in the UK, the succession follows a male-preference cognatic-primogeniture [1]. What this means is that the heir to the throne is to be the eldest living male of the previous king. However, in England in the case of their being no direct male heir, the eldest daughter is to become Queen. In the case of Mary, it is very clear that she is the next in line to the throne after her brother Edward VI dies. However, it was arranged so that Jane Grey was to become Queen solely for the reason that she was Protestant while Mary was Catholic. I will later on show how this was placement of Jane Grey upon the throne was entirely illegal in D2. 2. Jane Grey is not even the third in lineTo help both myself and our readers for this section of the argument, I would like to show the Tudor family tree in Picture A. Picture A Shown in this picture is the relation between Edward VI to Jane Grey, along with the remainder of the Tudor family. Based on this picture it is clear that Mary is second in line given that she is the eldest daughter of Henry VIII. Elizabeth I would be the third in line given that she was the second daughter of Henry VIII. Now it is to be believed that Jane would become the fourth in line to the throne, however this is incorrect as well. Jane's mother, Frances Grey (nee Brandon), the Duchess of Suffolk would claim that title due to the fact that she is the daughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary and that she is obviously older than her daughter, Jane [2]. Further, those descended from Henry VIII's elder sister Margaret, Queen of Scots had been excluded from the sucession due to their Catholic leanings, and thus, James V of Scots, Mary, Queen of Scots, and even her husbsand, Francis II of France had less of a claim to the English throne than the descendants of Henry VIII's younger sister Mary. And despite the fact that the Scottish had been disinherited, it was incredibly illogical that Jane became Queen while there were at least two other candidates for the English throne.D2: Specific Reasons 1. Third Succession Act (1543)In 1543, Henry VIII passed the Third Act of Succession during his reign. Essentially, this Act revoked the Second Succession Act which stated that both Mary and Elizabeth could not in any way become ruler of England [3]. Article IV of the Third Succession Act states [4]: "Provided alway, that if the said Lady Mary do not keep and perform such conditions as shall be limited and appointed to her said estate in the said imperial crown and other the premises as is aforesaid, and the said Lady Elizabeth being then dead without any heir of her body lawfully begotten, that then and from thenceforth for lack of heirs of the several bodies of the king's majesty and the said lord prince lawfully begotten, the said imperial crown and other the premises shall be, come and remain to such person and persons and of such estate and estates as the king's highness by his letters patents sealed under his great seal, or by his last will in writing signed with His Majesty's hand shall limit and appoint"Admittedly it is a bit wordy, however it is essentially describing that Mary and Elizabeth have both been restored to their former state in the line of succession, which is second and third in line, respectively. Nowhere to be found in the document is the name of Lady Jane Grey, or even her mother, Frances Grey. 2. Illegitimacy of Edward VI's decision to make Lady Jane Grey QueenThere are multiple issues that arise with Edward VI's declaration that made Jane Grey his heir instead of Mary. Edward VI was attempting to follow his father who had been able to gain such an incredible amount of power that he could change his heirs without any input from parliament. Before I describe the specifics of said issues, I would like to share a quote by historian David Loades who states [5]: "‘Not only was parliamentary consent required for the change that he [Edward] was proposing, but as a minor he was not even capable of making a valid will. As the days ticked by Northumberland became increasingly desperate, even threatening violence against the obstructers. Eventually it was agreed that the only way to proceed was by letters patent, which would have to be retrospectively confirmed. Such letters were drawn up, but they never passed the seals, and thus were never properly validated, and so remained technically invalid.’ Loades addresses multiple issues with Edward's deceleration. One being that he was still technically not old enough to make decisions by himself, as he was only fifteen and still had a regent in charge of the country. Therefore all arguments that state that Henry VIII had given Edward VI the power of changing heirs is somewhat true, yet at the time of his death he was unable to use these powers. Another is that the letters which stated that Jane Grey was the heir of Edward VI were never passed by parliament and therefore are invalid. If the act is invalid, that means that nothing has changed in the succession, and therefore Mary was still the next in line. Sources[1] http://en.wikipedia.org...[2] http://genealogics.org...[3] http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com...[4] http://www.luminarium.org...[5] http://mary-tudor.blogspot.com...;