The main effect was the removal of the ability of the British parliament to legislate for the Dominions, part of which also required the repeal of the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 in its application to the Dominions.
The passage of the Statute of Westminster meant that changes in British legislation governing the succession to the throne no longer automatically applied to Canada. ===Irish Free State=== The Irish Free State never formally adopted the Statute of Westminster, its Executive Council (cabinet) taking the view that the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 had already ended Westminster's right to legislate for the Irish Free State.
Originally, the UK government had wanted to exclude from the Statute of Westminster the legislation underpinning the 1921 treaty, from which the Free State's constitution had emerged.
Abolishing the Oath of Allegiance in effect abrogated the 1921 treaty.
It thus became a statutory embodiment of the principles of equality and common allegiance to the Crown set out in the Balfour Declaration of 1926.
It was a crucial step in the development of the Dominions as separate states. Its modified versions are now domestic law within Australia and Canada; it has been repealed in New Zealand and implicitly in former Dominions that are no longer Commonwealth realms. ==Application== The Statute of Westminster gave effect to certain political resolutions passed by the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930; in particular, the Balfour Declaration of 1926.
It was a crucial step in the development of the Dominions as separate states. Its modified versions are now domestic law within Australia and Canada; it has been repealed in New Zealand and implicitly in former Dominions that are no longer Commonwealth realms. ==Application== The Statute of Westminster gave effect to certain political resolutions passed by the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930; in particular, the Balfour Declaration of 1926.
The Statute of Westminster 1931 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets the basis for the relationship between the Commonwealth realms and the Crown. Passed on 11 December 1931, the Statute, established the legislative independence of the self-governing Dominions of the British Empire from the United Kingdom.
Section 10 of the Statute provided that sections 2 to 6 would apply in the other three Dominions—Australia, New Zealand, and Newfoundland - only after the Parliament of that Dominion had legislated to adopt them. Since 1931, over a dozen new Commonwealth realms have been created, all of which now hold the same powers as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand over matters of change to the monarchy, though the Statute of Westminster is not part of their laws.
That authority remained in effect until the Constitution Act, 1982, which transferred it to Canada, the final step to achieving full sovereignty. The British North America Acts—the written elements (in 1931) of the Canadian constitution—were excluded from the application of the statute because of disagreements between the Canadian provinces and the federal government over how the British North America Acts could be otherwise amended.
Hence, even before 1931, the Irish Free State did not arrest British Army and Royal Air Force deserters on its territory, even though the UK believed post-1922 British laws gave the Free State's Garda Síochána the power to do so.
Survey of British Commonwealth affairs: problems of external policy, 1931-1939 (Oxford University Press, 1952). Nicolson, Harold.
The Statute of Westminster, 1931 (Clarendon Press, 1933). Wheare, K.
The Statute of Westminster had the effect of making the Irish Free State the first internationally recognised independent Irish state. After Éamon de Valera led Fianna Fáil to victory in the Free State election of 1932, he began removing the monarchical elements of the Constitution, beginning with the Oath of Allegiance.
Criminal appeals were abolished in 1933, while civil appeals continued until 1949.
The Statute of Westminster, 1931 (Clarendon Press, 1933). Wheare, K.
By request of the Dominion's government, the United Kingdom established the Commission of Government in 1934, resuming direct rule of Newfoundland.
In 1935, the JCPC ruled that both abolitions were valid under the Statute of Westminster.
However, the enabling legislation that allowed for the actual abdication (His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936) did require the assent of each Dominion Parliament to be passed and the request and consent of the Dominion governments so as to allow it to be part of the law of each Dominion.
27) Act 1936, passed on 11 December 1936.
The Free State, which in 1937 was renamed Ireland, left the Commonwealth in 1949 upon the coming into force of its Republic of Ireland Act. ===New Zealand=== The Parliament of New Zealand adopted the Statute of Westminster by passing its Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947 in November 1947.
In Canada, the federal parliament passed the Succession to the Throne Act 1937, to assent to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act and ratify the government's request and consent to it.
A new Constitution of Ireland, with a president, was approved by Irish voters in 1937, with the Irish Free State becoming simply "Ireland", or, in the Irish language, "Éire".
The Free State, which in 1937 was renamed Ireland, left the Commonwealth in 1949 upon the coming into force of its Republic of Ireland Act. ===New Zealand=== The Parliament of New Zealand adopted the Statute of Westminster by passing its Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947 in November 1947.
However, the head of state of Ireland remained unclear until 1949, when Ireland unambiguously became a republic outside the Commonwealth of Nations by enacting the Republic of Ireland Act 1948. ==Commemoration== In some countries where the Statute of Westminster forms a part of the constitution, the anniversary of the date of the passage of the original British statute is commemorated as Statute of Westminster Day.
Criminal appeals were abolished in 1933, while civil appeals continued until 1949.
The Free State, which in 1937 was renamed Ireland, left the Commonwealth in 1949 upon the coming into force of its Republic of Ireland Act. ===New Zealand=== The Parliament of New Zealand adopted the Statute of Westminster by passing its Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947 in November 1947.
However, the head of state of Ireland remained unclear until 1949, when Ireland unambiguously became a republic outside the Commonwealth of Nations by enacting the Republic of Ireland Act 1948. ==Commemoration== In some countries where the Statute of Westminster forms a part of the constitution, the anniversary of the date of the passage of the original British statute is commemorated as Statute of Westminster Day.
Survey of British Commonwealth affairs: problems of external policy, 1931-1939 (Oxford University Press, 1952). Nicolson, Harold.
That authority remained in effect until the Constitution Act, 1982, which transferred it to Canada, the final step to achieving full sovereignty. The British North America Acts—the written elements (in 1931) of the Canadian constitution—were excluded from the application of the statute because of disagreements between the Canadian provinces and the federal government over how the British North America Acts could be otherwise amended.
These disagreements were resolved only in time for the passage of the Canada Act 1982, thus completing the patriation of the Canadian constitution to Canada.
The Statute of Westminster remains a part of the constitution of Canada by virtue of section 52(2)(b) of the Constitution Act, 1982. As a consequence of the Statute's adoption, the Parliament of Canada gained the ability to abolish appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
The remaining role of the British Parliament was removed by the New Zealand Constitution Act 1986 and the Statute of Westminster was repealed in its entirety. ===Newfoundland=== The Dominion of Newfoundland never adopted the Statute of Westminster, especially because of financial troubles and corruption there.
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