Root of Trust Succession

# Root of Trust Succession **Domain:** Identity / Cryptography / Sovereignty **Doc Type:** Canonical Governance Concept **Maturity:** Proposed ## Definition **Root of trust succession is the process by which the deepest authority validating identity, status or system integrity is replaced without breaking the claims that depend on it.** ## Constitutional Problem A root may be a sovereign registry, certificate authority, hardware key, firmware trust anchor, treaty institution or distributed threshold. If it fails, subordinate credentials can remain mathematically intact while becoming administratively useless. Succession requires precommitted replacement rules, plural evidence, threshold control, emergency recovery, cross-recognition, historical validation and an appeal path. The successor root should inherit defined validation duties, not unlimited authority over the identities beneath it. [[wiki/Registry Sovereignty|Registry Sovereignty]] explains control of authoritative records. [[wiki/Cryptographic Succession|Cryptographic Succession]] covers keys and algorithms. Root succession joins the institutional and technical layers so that neither can silently invalidate the other. For [[wiki/Continuity Election|Continuity Elections]], succession must preserve validation of the signed directive, its amendments and revocation status across centuries without treating an obsolete algorithm or dead issuer as permanent sovereign. The successor root validates history and current status; it does not acquire authority to rewrite the election. ## Key Insight **A durable identity cannot depend on a root that has no lawful successor.** ## See Also [[wiki/Continuity Registry|Continuity Registry]], [[wiki/Durable Identity|Durable Identity]], [[wiki/Sovereign Failure Domain|Sovereign Failure Domain]], [[wiki/Jurisdictional Redundancy|Jurisdictional Redundancy]]  ## Deep-Time Continuity Interface This node is audited through [[wiki/Deep Time Continuity|Deep Time Continuity]] for future control-surface conversion, ontological drift, succession, irreversibility, due process, and resource incidence. The backlink records analytical relevance; it does not establish continuity intent in the present rule or institution.