Statute of Westminster

Statute of Westminster, statute enacted by the British Parliament in December 1931, recognizing the full equality of the British dominions with the United Kingdom and establishing the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of independent states.

The Statute of Westminster legally confirmed decisions made at the 1926 and 1930 Imperial Conferences in London, England. During these conferences Australia, Canada, Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa, all British dominions at that time, were granted full autonomy within the British Empire. The statute declared that the “Dominions are autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.” By the provisions of the statute, the dominions were empowered to reject any law of the British Parliament if their own parliaments so decide and to enact legislation concerning all domestic matters, including merchant shipping.