Statute of Westminster 1931 Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Statute of Westminster 1931 was the enactment of the United Kingdom Parliament (December 11, 1931) which established the legislative sovereignty of the self-governing Dominions of the British Empire. (There exist also the unrelated Statutes of Westminster of 1275, 1285 and 1290 (known as First, Second and Third), passed by the parliaments of King Edward I.)Today the Statute of Westminster is relevant for outlining the powers which Commonwealth Realms hold over any changes to the structure of the British Monarchy.
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2 Commonwealth powers over the monarchy 3 External link |
The Statute's main effect was giving the self-governing regions of the British Empire complete legislative independence. After it was passed, the British government could no longer directly make law for the dominions. The British government also gave up the once powerful right to dictate the foreign and military policy of all the realms, and in doing so dramatically scaled back Britain's imperial leadership role.
The Statute applied to the Dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Irish Free State, South Africa and Newfoundland except in relation to revision of the acts of parliament upon which the constitutions of Canada, Australia and New Zealand were founded. The Statute was expressed not to apply to Australia, New Zealand or Newfoundland unless and until adopted by those Dominions' Parliaments.
Adoption of the Statute was strongly opposed by conservatives in Australia, and it was not until 1942 that it was finally adopted to clarify Government war powers (the adoption was backdated to the start of World War II in September 1939). New Zealand adopted the Statute in 1947. Newfoundland never adopted the Statute - Britain resumed direct rule in the 1930s and retained it until Newfoundland became a Province of Canada in 1949.
The key passage of the Statute provides that:
Granting Legislative independence
It was also enacted that:
Under the provisions of other sections of the statute, the British Parliament still had the power to pass legislation regarding the Canadian constitution and the Australian states. These powers were removed by the Canada Act 1982 and the Australia Act 1986.
The preamble to the Statute of Westminster set out conventions which impact on attempts to change the rules of succession to the Crown. The second paragraph of the prologue to the Statute reads:
Commonwealth powers over the monarchy
This means that any change to the Act of Settlement's provisions barring Roman Catholics from the throne or giving males precedence over females would require the unanimous consent of the parliaments of the Commonwealth realms. Note however that preambles to an Act of Parliament do not form part of the Act itself and has no force in law, so the preamble merely expresses a constitutional convention, albeit one fundamental to the basis of the Commonwealth. In any case there can be no effective restriction on the powers of those Parliaments which recognise the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy, namely the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Before King Edward VIII abdicated in 1937 British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin consulted the Commonwealth Prime Ministers, at the King's request. The King had wanted to marry Wallis Simpson, who as a divorcee, was considered unacceptable to become Queen by British politicians of the time. Baldwin was able to get the four Dominion Prime Ministers to agree with this consenous, and thus register their official disapproval over the King's planned marriage. The King later requested the Commonwealth Prime Ministers be consulted on a compromise plan, in which he would wed Simpson under a morganatic marriage and thus not have her become Queen. Under Baldwin's pressure, this plan was also rejected by the Dominions. All of these negotiations occured at strictly diplomatic level and never went to the Commonwealth parliaments.
When Edward abdicated however, the South African Parliament formally voted to "approve" the King's decision. The move was largely done for symbolic purposes, in an attempt by Prime Minister J.B.M. Hertzog to assert South Africa's "independence" from Britain. South Africa would eventually become a full republic in 1961.
In Ireland, the effects of Edward's abdication were more direct, and Prime Minister Eamon de Valera used the departure of the monarch as an opportunity to remove all monarchical language from Ireland's constitution and make the nation into a republic. Ireland thus became the first nation to "leave" the jurisdictions of the Statute.
The convention about altering the "Royal Style and Titles" was altered by the Commonwealth Prime Ministers in 1953, when they agreed to pass individual Royal Styles and Titles Acts to enact different royal styles in each Realm.
Today, the powers given by the statute's preamble only apply to three of the original signers: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as Ireland and South Africa are now republics and Newfoundland is part of Canada. However, since 1931 over a dozen new Dominions (now called "Commonwealth Realms") have been created, all of which now hold the same powers as the original three over matters of change to the monarchy. This has raised some logistical concerns, as it would mean 16 parliaments would all have to vote to approve any future changes.
External link
Statute of Westminster, 1931 (text)
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