In a general sense a fiction is something feigned or imagined, and in the most extensive acceptation of the word anything which is unreal may be characterized as a fiction. In a moral sense a fiction is a culpable falsehood, or rather an imposture, as it always supposes the intention of deceiving. In a literary sense fiction assumes a different character. It is employed to produce an illusion, and it is indispensable to its success that it should appear in the guise of truth; nevertheless there is no intention here to make that which is false pass for being true. Works of fiction include novels, tales, romances, and even epic poems. In a legal sense, a fiction is something assumed for the purposes of justice though not literally true; thus an heir is held to be the same person as his ancestor in order to make him liable for the debts of him whose estates he has inherited. In a political sense, a fiction is that which, though literally untrue, is sanctioned by considerations of expediency for the preservation of order and security. Such is the received axiom in constitutional monarchies, "that the king can do no wrong," the intention of which is to establish the principle that the ministers are responsible for all the acts of the crown. A similar axiom is, that "the king never dies;" that is, it can never be said of the sovereign that he is dead, because on the moment of his decease there lives a sovereign in the person of his successor.