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A dominion, often Dominion,^[1] was a self-governing colony or autonomous state within the British Empire prior to 1948,^[2] and included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and Ireland.

The word dominion dates back to at least the 17th century within the British Empire, referring generically to any British overseas possession. Dominion was conferred as title upon Virginia (1500's), New England (1686), and Canada (1867). The Imperial Conference of 1907 decided that self-governing colonies in the Empire – Canada and Australia – should be referred to as Dominions as opposed to colonies.^[3] New Zealand and Newfoundland were quickly granted Dominion status that year, soon to be followed by South Africa (1910) and Ireland (1922). The Balfour Declaration (1926) and Statute of Westminster (1931) would recognize these territories as "autonomous Communities within the British Empire", establishing these states as equals to Britain. They would become independent members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Following the Second World War, the decline of British Colonialism led to Dominions being referred to Commonwealth realms after 1948. The use of the word gradually diminished within these countries after this time.

Historical development

Dominions originally referred to any overseas possession of the British monarch; Oliver Cromwell's full title, for example, was "Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the dominions thereto belonging". King Charles II gave the Colony of Virginia the title "Dominion" in gratitude for Virginia's loyalty to the Crown during the English Civil War; the state therefore retains the nickname "Old Dominion". The name also occurred in the short-lived Dominion of New England. It had an unpopular and autocratic president, appointed by London, Sir Edmund Andros. Neither had it the independence from Britain that the later Dominions attained.

All the colonies of British North America attained limited self-governance between 1848 and 1855, except the colony of Vancouver Island. Nova Scotia was the first colony to achieve Responsible Government in January–February 1848 through the efforts of Joseph Howe, followed by the Province of Canada later that year. They were followed by Prince Edward Island in 1851, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland in 1855 under Philip Francis Little. Australian colonies of New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania along with New Zealand attained Responsible Government soon after in 1856; Western Australia would wait until 1891. South African colonies would become self-governing later, with the Cape Colony being the first in 1872; this would be followed by Natal (1893), Transvaal (1906), and the Orange River Colony (1907).

The 20th century usage of the term Dominion originates in 1867 with the Confederation of British North American colonies of Canada (subsequently the provinces of Ontario and Quebec), New Brunswick and Nova Scotia into "One Dominion under the Name of Canada"; the new Canadian government would subsequently adopt the Dominion of Canada as the formal name of the new, larger colony. (see: Dominion: Canada, Canada's name). Because Confederation gave Canada additional autonomy, the Canadian Confederation became an archetype for an British Dominion. Similar powers of self-government were granted Commonwealth of Australia, which unified its seven constituent self-governing colonies into a federal state.

Issues of colonial self-government spilled into foreign affairs with the Boer War (1899-1902). The self-governing colonies would contribute significantly to British efforts to stem the insurrection, but assured that they set the conditions for participation in these wars. Colonial governments would repeatedly act to assure that they would determine the extent of their peoples' participation in imperial wars in the military build-up to the First World War.

The assertiveness of self-governing colonies would be recognized in the Imperial Conference of 1907 which would introduce the idea of Dominion as a self-governing colony by referring to Canada and Australia as Dominions. It would also retire the name Colonial Conference, and mandate that meetings take place regularly to allow Dominions a say in running the foreign affairs of the Empire.

The Colony of New Zealand, which chose not to take part in Australian Federation, quickly became the Dominion of New Zealand on September 26 1907; Newfoundland became a Dominion on the same day. The newly-created Union of South Africa achieved Dominion status in 1910; and the Irish Free State (which was known officially as Éire in 1937-49 and after that as the Republic of Ireland) in 1922, after the bitter Anglo-Irish War. All retained the same monarch as head of state, represented locally by a governor-general appointed in consultation with the Dominion government. The Irish Free State, led by W.T. Cosgrave was the first dominion to appoint a non-British, non-aristocratic Governor-General, when Timothy Michael Healy took the position in 1922. Dominion status was never popular in the Irish Free State/Éire, where people saw it as a face-saving measure for a British government unable to countenance a republic in what had previously been the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This compromise was a direct cause of the Irish Civil War. Successive Irish governments undermined the constitutional links with Britain, until they were severed completely in 1949. In 1930, the Australian Prime Minister, James Scullin, reinforced the right of the overseas Dominions to appoint native-born governors-general, when he appointed Sir Isaac Isaacs, against the wishes of the opposition and officials in London.

Until 1931, Newfoundland was referred to as a colony of the United Kingdom, as for example, in the 1927 reference to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to delineate the Quebec-Labrador boundary. Full autonomy was granted by the United Kingdom Parliament with the Statute of Westminster in December 1931. However, the government of Newfoundland "requested the United Kingdom not to have sections 2 to 6 [—] confirming Dominion status [—] apply automatically to it[,] until the Newfoundland Legislature first approved the Statute, approval which the Legislature subsequently never gave." In any event, Newfoundland's letters patent of 1934 suspended self-government and instituted a "Commission of Government", which continued until Newfoundland became a province of Canada in 1949. (Newfoundland had been bankrupted by the Great Depression and could not afford independence.) It is the view of some constitutional lawyers that — although Newfoundland chose not to exercise all of the functions of a Dominion like Canada — its status as a Dominion was "suspended" in 1934, rather than "revoked" or "abolished".

Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland and South Africa (prior to becoming a republic and leaving the Commonwealth in 1961), with their large populations of European descent, were sometimes collectively referred to as the "White Dominions". Today Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are sometimes referred to collectively as the White Commonwealth.

The Balfour Declaration (1926) and the Statute of Westminster (1931) ended Britain's responsibility for the defence and foreign affairs of the Dominions. Significantly, it was Britain which initiated the change to complete independence for the Dominions. World War I had left Britain saddled with enormous debts and the Great Depression had further reduced Britain's ability to pay for the defence of its empire. In spite of popular opinions of empires, the White Dominions were reluctant to leave the protection of the then-superpower. For example, many Canadians felt that being part of the British Empire was the only thing that had prevented them from being absorbed into the United States.

Later members of the Commonwealth gained independence, not under the Statute of Westminster but by their own respective independence acts. When British decolonization in Africa began it was hoped the dominion model would again be followed. Ghana, the first new nation was created as a dominion in 1957, but declared itself a republic three years later. The other British possessions in Africa also agitated for a local monarchy or republic status, and upon independence they seldom remained dominions. Lesotho became a dominion in 1959 (of Basutoland) and a separate constitutional monarchy in 1966; Nigeria became a dominion in 1960 and a republic in 1963,; Tanganyika a dominion in 1961 and a republic in 1962; Uganda a dominion in 1962 and republic in 1963; Kenya a dominion in 1963 and a republic in 1964; Malawi a dominion in 1964 and republic in 1966. Only Gambia (five years), Sierra Leone (ten years), and Mauritius (24 years) stayed dominions longer than three years.

The United Kingdom and its component parts never aspired to the title of Dominion, remaining anomalies within the network of free and independent equal members of the Empire and Commonwealth. However the idea has on occasions been floated by some in Northern Ireland as an alternative to a United Ireland if they felt uncomfortable within the United Kingdom.

Foreign relations

Initially, the Foreign Office of the United Kingdom conducted the foreign relations of the Dominions. A Dominions section was created within the Colonial Office for this purpose in 1907. Canada set up its own Department of External Affairs in June 1909, but diplomatic relations with other governments continued to operate through the governors-general, Dominion High Commissioners in London (first appointed by Canada in 1880; Australia followed only in 1910) and British legations abroad. Britain deemed her declaration of war against Germany in August 1914 to extend without the need for consultation to all territories of the Empire, occasioning some displeasure in Canadian official circles and contributing to a brief anti-British insurrection by Afrikaner militants in South Africa later that year. A Canadian War Mission in Washington, D.C., dealt with supply matters from February 1918 to March 1921.

Although the Dominions had had no formal voice in declaring war, each became a separate signatory of the June 1919 peace Treaty of Versailles, which had been negotiated by a British-led united Empire delegation. In September 1922, Dominion reluctance to support British military action against Turkey influenced Britain's decision to seek a compromise settlement. Diplomatic autonomy soon followed, with the U.S.-Canadian Halibut Fisheries Agreement (March 1923) marking the first international treaty negotiated and concluded entirely independently by a Dominion. The Dominions Section of the Colonial Office was upgraded in June 1926 to a separate Dominions Office. However, initially the same person was appointed as the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

The principle of Dominion equality with Britain and independence in foreign relations was formally recognized by the Balfour Declaration adopted at the Imperial Conference of November 1926. Canada's first permanent diplomatic mission to a foreign country opened in Washington, DC in 1927. In 1928, Canada obtained the appointment of a British high commissioner in Ottawa, separating the administrative and diplomatic functions of the governor-general and ending the latter's anomalous role as the representative of the British government in relations between the two countries. The Dominions Office was given a separate secretary of state in June 1930, though this was entirely for domestic political reasons given the need to relieve the burden on one ill minister whilst moving another away from unemployment policy. The Balfour Declaration was enshrined in the Statute of Westminster 1931 when it was adopted by the British Parliament and subsequently ratified by the Dominion legislatures.

Britain's declaration of hostilities against Germany on September 3, 1939 tested the issue. Most took the view that the declaration did not commit the Dominions. Ireland chose to remain neutral. At the other extreme, the conservative Australian government of the day, led by Robert Menzies, took the view that, since Australia had not adopted the Statute of Westminister, it was legally bound by the UK declaration of war — which had also been the view at the outbreak of World War I — although this was contentious within Australia. Between these two extremes, New Zealand declared that as Britain was or would be at war, so it was too. This was however as a matter of political choice rather than legal necessity. Canada issued its own declaration of war after a recall of Parliament, as did South Africa after a delay of several days (South Africa - September 6, Canada - September 10). Éire, which had negotiated the removal of British forces from its territory the year before, chose to remain neutral throughout the war. There were soon signs of growing independence from the other Dominions: Australia opened a diplomatic mission in the US in 1940 and Canada's mission in Washington gained embassy status in 1943.

From Dominions to Commonwealth realms

Initially, the Dominions conducted their own trade policy, some limited foreign relations and had autonomous armed forces, although the British government claimed and exercised the exclusive power to declare wars. However, after the passage of the Statute of Westminster the language of dependency on the Crown of the United Kingdom ceased, where the Crown itself was no longer referred to as the Crown of any place in particular but simply as "the Crown." Arthur Berriedale Keith, in Speeches and Documents on the British Dominions 1918-1931, stated that "the Dominions are sovereign international States in the sense that the King in respect of each of His Dominions (Newfoundland excepted) is such a State in the eyes of international law." After then, those countries that were previously referred to as "Dominions" became independent realms where the sovereign reigns no longer as the British monarch, but as monarch of each nation in its own right, and are considered equal to the UK and one another.

World War II, which fatally undermined Britain's already weakened commercial and financial leadership, further loosened the political ties between Britain and the Dominions. Australian Prime Minister John Curtin's unprecedented action (February 1942) in successfully countermanding an order from Churchill that Australian troops be diverted to defend British-held Burma (the 7th Division was then en route from the Middle East to Australia to defend against an expected Japanese invasion) demonstrated that dominion governments might no longer subordinate their own national interests to British strategic perspectives. To ensure that Australia had full legal power to act independently, particularly in relation to foreign affairs, defence industry and military operations, and to validate its past independent action in these areas, Australia formally adopted the Statute of Westminster in October 1942 and backdated the adoption to the start of the war in September 1939.

The Dominions Office merged with the India Office as the Commonwealth Relations Office upon the independence of India and Pakistan in August 1947. The last country to be officially made a Dominion was Ceylon in 1948. The term "Dominion" fell out of general use thereafter. The Republic of Ireland ceased to be a member of the Commonwealth on April 1, 1949, following proclamation of the Republic of Ireland Act. This formally signaled the end of the former dependencies' common constitutional connection to the British crown. India also adopted a republican constitution in January 1950. Unlike many dependencies which became republics, the Republic of Ireland never re-joined the Commonwealth and agreed to accept the British Monarch as head of that association of independent states.

The independence of the separate realms was emphasized after the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952, when she was proclaimed not just as Queen of the UK, but also Queen of Canada, Queen of Australia, Queen of New Zealand, and of all her other "realms and territories" etc. This also reflected the change from Dominion to realm; in the proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II's new titles in 1953, the phrase "of her other Realms and Territories," replaced "Dominion" with another mediaeval French word with the same connotation, "realm" (from royaume). Thus, recently, when referring to one of those sixteen countries within the Commonwealth of Nations that share the same monarch, the term Commonwealth realm has come into common usage instead of Dominion to differentiate the Commonwealth nations that continue to share the monarch as head of state (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica, etc.) from those which do not (India, Pakistan, South Africa, etc.). The term "Dominion" is still to be found in the Canadian constitution where it appears numerous times; however, it is largely a vestige of the past, as the Canadian government does not actively use it (see Canada section). The term "realm" does not appear in the Canadian constitution. Present-day general usage prefers the term 'realm'' because it includes the United Kingdom as well, emphasising equality, and no one nation being subordinate to any other. Dominion, however, as a title, technically remains a term that can be used in reference those self-governing countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, other than the United Kingdom itself, that are in a personal union relationship with the UK.

The generic language of dominion, however, did not cease in relation to the Sovereign. It was, and is, used to describe those territories in which the Monarch exercises her sovereignty, the phrase Her Majesty's dominions being a legal and constitutional term used to refer to all the realms and territories of the Sovereign, whether independent or not. Thus, for example, the British Republic of Ireland Act of 1949 recognised that the Republic of Ireland "no longer forms part of His Majesty’s dominions." When dependent territories which had never been annexed (that is, were not colonies of the Crown), but were protectorates or trust territories (of the United Nations) were granted independence, the United Kingdom act granting independence always declared that such and such a territory "shall form part of Her Majesty’s dominions"; become part of the territory in which the Queen exercises sovereignty, not merely suzerainty.

Many of the distinctive characteristics which once pertained only to Dominions are now shared by other states in the Commonwealth, whether they are republics, independent realms, self-governing colonies or Crown colonies. Even in a historical sense the differences between self-governing colonies and Dominions have often been formal rather than substantial.

Canada

See also: Canada's name

Dominion is the legal title conferred on Canada in the Constitution of Canada, namely the Constitution Act, 1867 (British North America Acts), and describes the resulting political union. Specifically, the preamble of the BNA Act indicates:

Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom ...

and, furthermore, sections 3 and 4 indicate that the provinces:

... shall form and be One Dominion under the Name of Canada; and on and after that Day those Three Provinces shall form and be One Dominion under that Name accordingly.

Unless it is otherwise expressed or implied, the Name Canada shall be taken to mean Canada as constituted under this Act.

Usage of the term Dominion of Canada was sanctioned as the country's formal political name, and some still read the BNA Act passage as specifying this phrase – rather than Canada alone – as the name. The term Dominion of Canada does not appear in the 1867 act nor in the Constitution Act, 1982 but does appear in the Constitution Act, 1871, other contemporaneous texts, and subsequent bills. References to the Dominion of Canada in later acts, such as the Statute of Westminster, do not clarify the point because all nouns were formally capitalized in British legislative style. Indeed, in the original text of the BNA Act, "One" and "Name" were also capitalized.

Starting in the 1950s, the federal government began to phase out the use of Dominion, which had been used largely as a synonym of "federal" or "national" such as "Dominion building" for a post office, "Dominion-provincial relations", and so on. The last major change was renaming the national holiday from Dominion Day to Canada Day in 1982. Official bilingualism laws also contributed to the disuse of dominion, as it has no acceptable equivalent in French.

While the term may be found in older official documents, and the Dominion Carillonneur still tolls at Parliament Hill, it is rarely used any more to distinguish the federal government from the provinces or (historically) Canada before and after 1867. Nonetheless, the federal government continues to produce publications and educational materials that specify the currency of these official titles.[1][2][3][4]

Defenders of the title Dominion — including monarchists who see signs of creeping republicanism in Canada — take comfort in the fact that the Canadian Constitution Act 1982 does not mention and therefore does not remove the title, and contend that a constitutional amendment would be required to change it.

See also

• Canada's name
• Commonwealth realm
• Crown Colony
• Self-governing colony

Notes

References

• Choudry, Sujit. 2001(?). "Constitution Acts" (based on looseleaf by Hogg, Peter W.). Constitutional Keywords. University of Alberta, Centre for Constitutional Studies: Edmonton.
• Holland, R.F., Britain and the Commonwealth Alliance 1918-1939, MacMillan, 1981
• Forsey, Eugene A. 2005. How Canadians Govern Themselves, 6th ed. (ISBN 0-662-39689-8) Canada: Ottawa.
• Hallowell, Gerald, ed. 2004. The Oxford Companion to Canadian History. (ISBN 0-19-541559-0) Oxford University Press: Toronto; p. 183-4.
• Marsh, James H., ed. 1988. "Dominion" et al. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Hurtig Publishers: Toronto.
• Martin, Robert. 1993(?). 1993 Eugene Forsey Memorial Lecture: A Lament for British North America. The Machray Review. Prayer Book Society of Canada. — A summative piece about nomenclature and pertinent history with abundant references.
• Rayburn, Alan. 2001. Naming Canada: stories about Canadian place names, 2nd ed. (ISBN 0-8020-8293-9) University of Toronto Press: Toronto.