Ab'dica'tion, properly the voluntary, but sometimes also the involuntary, resignation of an office, especially that of a sovereign. The more important abdications since the eighteenth century are the following: Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia . . . . . June 4, 1802. Charles IV of Spain . . . . . March 19, 1808. Joseph Bonaparte of Naples . . . . . June 6, 1808. Gustavus IV of Sweden . . . . . March 29, 1809. Louis Bonaparte of Holland . . . . . July 2, 1810. Napoleon of France . . . . . April 14, 1814. June 22, 1815. Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia . . . . . March 13, 1821. Charles X of France . . . . . August 2, 1830. William I of Holland . . . . . October 7, 1840. Louis Philippe of France . . . . . February 24, 1848. Ferdinand of Austria . . . . . December 2, 1848. Charles Albert of Sardinia . . . . . March 23, 1849. Isabella II of Spain . . . . . June 25, 1870. Amadeus I of Spain . . . . . February 11, 1873. Abd-ul-Aziz of Turkey . . . . . May 30, 1876. The English law, that the king cannot abdicate without the consent of Parliament, is contrary to the custom of many countries.