Errors of fact With reference to misunderstandings as expressed in Line of succession to the Russian throne of the vast Fundamental Laws of Russia which governed succession to the throne from  to  the following should be noted That article which should be read in conjunction with this one to which it is necessarily closely connected is poorly written erratic and unbalanced openly speculative and undersourced but it has been fairly stable for almost exactly three years Until a decent rewrite with reliable sources is undertaken theres no point in butchering it piecemeal and reinitiating old edit wars so Ive reverted recent changes based on known inaccuracies Pauls  law guaranteed succession rights to women on a semiSalic basis rather than eliminated them Cyril Toumanov a Georgian prince upheld rather than denied the equality of birth of Georgias forcibly Russianized princely families including the BagrationiMukhranelis and the Romanov Family Associations president is Prince Nicholas Romanov but its charter has always prohibited that organization from endorsing any candidates claim to be rightful successor to the Russian crown Here another point that needs clarification has been raised Russia was an hereditary autocracy until  so there was no law deemed binding upon any of its de jure emperors as distinct from other Romanov dynasts including the Pauline laws Nor was all of the Pauline law considered unchangeable Rather  of its  clauses were declared inviolable articles of law Only one of these establishing the requirement for equality of blood in marriage was added to that category after Pauls reign Far from making the succession controversial at the time it was accepted by the House of Romanov as the means of solving the problem which arose when Alexander I died leaving two brothers Constantine  Nicholas the elder of whom had renounced upon marrying a nonroyal The confusion which resulted over whether Constantine or Nicholas was the new emperor encouraged the Decembrist revolt which the equality requirement was supposed to prevent from recurring Paul could not compel his heirs to leave these laws unchanged But he shrewdly enjoined that future tsars treat them as binding by swearing an oath to uphold them at the time of accession and at the coronation Each tsar and the Vladimirovich claimant has so sworn ever since but it was their sense of honor  not enforceable law  which bound each Head of House to enforce the inviolable articles unchanged At least until the October Manifesto led to the Russian Constitution of  in which the  articles were codified and made alterable only by joint decision of the Emperor State Council and Duma whereas the other Pauline laws were left within the Emperors discretion to apply or alter at will Equality of birth was included from  in the laws which the Emperor could not unilaterally dispense with and for nearly a century that principle was enforced by Pauls successors as each interpreted it