A dominion was a self-governing country within the British Empire and then the British Commonwealth of Nations, primarily in the first half of the 20th century.Amy McKeever, "How the Commonwealth arose from a crumbling British Empire", National Geographic, 12 September 2022. The dominions in 1926 were Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and South Africa; in 1947 India and Pakistan, and in 1948 Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). In the years following the Second World War, the British Empire was refashioned into the more modern and post-colonial Commonwealth of Nations, after which the former dominions were often referred to as the Old Commonwealth.Gregg, Robert W. “The Economic and Social Council: Politics of Membership.” The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 1, 1963, pp. 109–32. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/445962. Accessed 5 Mar. 2024. This was formalised by the London Declaration, 1949, by which time the dominions (with the exception of Newfoundland) had become independent nation states.
In 1925, the government of the United Kingdom created the Dominions Office out of the Colonial Office, although for the next five years they shared a secretary in charge. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and South Africa at the 1926 Imperial Conference through the Balfour Declaration of 1926, recognising Great Britain and the Dominions as "autonomous 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". Their full legislative independence was subsequently confirmed in the Statute of Westminster 1931. In the 1920s and 1930s, they began to represent themselves in international bodies, in treaty making, and in foreign capitals. Vestiges of empire and colonial rule lasted in some dominions late into the 20th century.
With the transition of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations in the aftermath of the Second World War, it was decided that the term Commonwealth country should formally replace dominion for official Commonwealth usage. This decision was made during the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference when India was intending to become a republic, so that both types of government could become and remain full members of the Commonwealth. Commonwealth country is thus a successor term to dominion; it referred to both realms (with the King as head of state) and republics (usually with presidents as head of state). After 1949, the term dominion, without its legal dimension, stayed in use for around thirty more years — mostly for some smaller, now Commonwealth-member realms where the British monarch remained as head of state.
Definition The term means "that which is mastered or ruled". It was used by the British to describe their colonies or territorial possessions.
Use of dominion to refer to a particular territory within the British Empire dates back to the 16th century and was sometimes used to describe Wales from 1535 to around 1800: for instance, the Laws in Wales Act 1535 applies to "the Dominion, Principality and Country of Wales". Dominion, as an official title, was conferred on the Colony of Virginia about 1660 and on the Dominion of New England in 1686.
Under the British North America Act 1867, the partially self-governing colonies of British North America were united into the Dominion of Canada. The new federal and provincial governments split considerable local powers, but Britain retained legislative supremacy, controlled trade, and international policy. At the 1907 Imperial Conference, the self-governing polities of Canada and the Commonwealth of Australia were referred to collectively as Dominions for the first time. Two other self-governing colonies—New Zealand and Newfoundland—were referred to as dominions later that same year. These were followed by the Union of South Africa in 1910. The Order in Council annexing the island of Cyprus in 1914 declared that, from 5 November 1914, the island "shall be annexed to and form part of His Majesty's dominions".Cyprus (Annexation) Order in Council, 1914, dated 5 November 1914.Order quoted in The American Journal of International Law, "Annexation of Cyprus by Great Britain" Nonetheless, the dominions entered World War I as part of the British Empire and not as separate sovereign states.
Dominion status was formally recognised for Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and South Africa at the 1926 Imperial Conference to designate "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".
The British government of Lloyd George had emphasised the use of the capital "D" when referring to the Irish Free State in the Anglo-Irish Treaty to assure it the same constitutional status in order to avoid confusion with the wider term "His Majesty's dominions", which referred to the British Empire as a whole. At the time of the founding of the League of Nations in 1919, the League Covenant made provision for the admission of any "fully self-governing state, Dominion, or Colony", the implication being that "Dominion status was something between that of a colony and a state".
With the adoption of the Statute of Westminster 1931, Britain and the Dominions formed the British Commonwealth of Nations.
Dominions asserted full legislative independence, with direct access to the monarch as head of state previously reserved only for British governments. It also recognised autonomy in foreign affairs, including participation as autonomous countries in the League of Nations with full power over appointing ambassadors to other countries.
Following World War II, the changes in the constitutional relationship between the countries that continued to share a common sovereign with the United Kingdom led to the upper case term Dominion falling out of use. The Dominions Office was formally changed to the Commonwealth Relations Office in 1947.
"His/Her Majesty's dominions" The status of "Dominion" established by the Statute of Westminster 1931 was capitalised to distinguish it from the more general sense of "within the Crown's dominions".
The phrase the Crown's dominions or His/Her Majesty's dominions is a legal and constitutional phrase that refers to all the realms and territories of the British sovereign, whether independent or not. These territories include the United Kingdom and its colonies, including those that had become Dominions. Dependent territories that had never been annexed and were not colonies of the Crown, were notionally foreign territory and not "within the Crown's dominions". When these territories—including protectorates and protected states (a status with greater powers of self-government), as well as League of Nations mandates (which later became United Nations Trust Territories)—were granted independence and at the same time recognised the British monarch as head of state, the United Kingdom Act granting independence declared that such and such a territory "shall form part of Her Majesty's dominions", and so become part of the territory in which the Queen exercises sovereignty, not merely suzerainty.
Under British nationality law, the status of "Dominion" ceased to exist on January 1, 1949, when it was decided that each Dominion would enact laws pertaining to its own citizenship. However, "Dominion status" itself never ceased to exist within the greater scope of British law, because acts pertaining to "Dominion status", such as the Statute of Westminster 1931, have not been repealed in both the United Kingdom and historic Dominions such as Canada, but countries with Dominion status today are called realms. The term "within the Crown's dominions" continues to apply in British law to those territories in which the British monarch remains head of state, and the term "self-governing dominion" is used in some legislation. When a territory ceases to recognise the monarch as head of state, this status is changed by statute. Thus, for example, the British Ireland Act 1949, recognised that the Republic of Ireland had "ceased to be part of His Majesty's dominions".
Historical development Responsible government: precursor to Dominion status
The foundation of "Dominion" status followed the achievement of internal self-rule in British Colonies, in the specific form of full responsible government (as distinct from "representative government"). Colonial responsible government began to emerge during the mid-19th century. The legislatures of Colonies with responsible government were able to make laws in all matters other than foreign affairs, defence and international trade, these being powers which remained with the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Nova Scotia soon followed by the Province of Canada (which included modern southern Ontario and southern Quebec) were the first colonies to achieve responsible government, in 1848. Prince Edward Island followed in 1851, and New Brunswick and Newfoundland in 1855. All except for Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island agreed to form a new federation named Canada from 1867. This was instituted by the British Parliament in the British North America Act 1867 (see also Canadian Confederation). Section 3 of the act referred to the new entity as a "Dominion", the first such entity to be created. From 1870 the Dominion included two vast neighbouring British territories without self-government: Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory; together these became over time the current provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and the three current territories, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut. In 1871, the Crown Colony of British Columbia became a Canadian province, as did Prince Edward Island in 1873. Newfoundland, having become a Dominion itself in 1907, was restored to direct British rule in 1934, finally joining Canada in 1949 after referendums.