Statute of Westminster 1931

The act that gave the self-governing dominions full legislative independence from the British Parliament

Overview

Following the Balfour Declaration of 1926, which described Britain and the dominions as equal in status, the Statute of Westminster provided that no British act would extend to a dominion unless the dominion requested and consented to it, and that dominion parliaments could repeal British laws applying to them. It covered Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Irish Free State, and Newfoundland, though Australia and New Zealand adopted its key provisions only in the 1940s and Newfoundland never did. Canada still needed Westminster to amend its constitution until patriation in 1982. The statute is regarded as the legal birth certificate of the modern Commonwealth.