The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster 1931, establishing legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Dominion of Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa. The Statute of Westminster 1931 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Passed on 11 December 1931, the Act established legislative equality for the self-governing dominions of the British Empire with the United Kingdom. The Statute remains domestic law within each of the other Commonwealth realms, to the extent that it has not been implicitly repealed by subsequent laws.From my vantage point in the U.S., I've never understood why Canada, Australia and New Zealand have kept their ties with the U.K., and haven't sent the Queen and her Governor-General packing. It is clear why the Irish cut those ties, but they have a different perspective on the U.K. than the other countries. I am just surprised that none of the other three have done something similar.
The Statute is of historical importance because it marked the effective legislative independence of these countries, either immediately or upon ratification. The residual constitutional powers retained by the Westminster parliament have now largely been superseded by subsequent legislation. Its current relevance is that it sets the basis for the continuing relationship between the Commonwealth realms and the Crown.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Statute of Westminster 1931
December 11, 1931:
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The more interesting question is, "Why hasn't the USA cut its ties to England?" Every time I see the wretched Niall Ferguson on TV spouting his neo-victorian view of the world, I am reminded of one Brazilian friend who asked, "Why does this happen? We don't give top university jobs to neo-colonial intellectuals from Portugal in my country."
ReplyDeleteI mean, think about it. The largest ethnic minority in USA is German. The second largest is Irish. Yet the Brits were able to stampede the USA into supporting those group's biggest enemy in World War One—and to this day, hardly anyone ever questions why or how this was done. This is odd because no less an intellectual than Bertrand Russell claimed USA involvement in WW I was history's single greatest disaster—and had considerable evidence to support that claim.
I agree. I am not an Anglophile, especially after taking an Irish history course in college. I don't see a "special relationship" between the United States and Great Britain. I think the British follow us into wars today so that they can continue to feel important on the world stage. The sun finally set on the British Empire, and they are now an island with the importance due to a nation of their size and population, no more, no less.
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