Australia:chanroblesvirtuallawlibraryStatute of
Westminster,
1931
AN ACT TO GIVE
EFFECT
TO CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS PASSED
BY IMPERIAL
CONFERENCES
HELD IN THE YEARS 1926 AND 1930
Adopted in 1931SOURCE:
22
George
V, Chapter 4, December 11, 1931
PREAMBLE
WHEREAS, the delegates to
His Majesty's Governments in the United Kingdom, the Dominion of
Canada,
the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union
of
South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland, at Imperial
Conferences
held at Westminster in the years of our Lord nineteen hundred and
twenty-six
and nineteen hundred and thirty did concur in making the declarations
and
resolutions set forth in the Reports of the said Conference;
And WHEREAS, it is meet and
proper to set out by way of preamble to this Act that, inasmuch as the
Crown is the symbol to the free association of the members of the
British
Commonwealth of Nations, and as they are united by a common allegiance
to the Crown, it would be in accord with the established constitutional
position of all the members of the Commonwealth in relation to one
another
that any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or
the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well
of
the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom;
And WHEREAS it is in accord
with the established constitutional position that no law hereafter made
by the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall extend to any of the said
Dominions as part of the law of that Dominion otherwise than at the
request
and with the consent of that Dominion;
And WHEREAS it is necessary
for the ratifying, confirming and establishing of certain of the said
declarations
and resolutions of the said Conferences that a law be made and enacted
in due form by authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom;
And WHEREAS the Dominion
of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand,
the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland have
severally
requested and consented to the submission of a measure to the
Parliament
of the United Kingdom for making such provision with regard to the
matters
aforesaid as is hereafter in this Act contained;
NOW, THEREFORE, be in enacted
by the King's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent
of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present
Parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1Meaning
of
"Dominion"
in This Act
In this Act the expression
"Dominion" means any of the following Dominions, that is to say, the
Dominion
of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand,
the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland.
SECTION 2Validity
of Laws
Made
by Parliament of a Dominion
(1) The Colonial Laws Validity
Act, 1865, shall not apply to any law made after the commencement of
this
Act by the Parliament of a Dominion.cralaw:red
(2) No law and no provision
of any law made after the commencement of this Act by the Parliament of
a Dominion shall be void or inoperative on the ground that it is
repugnant
to the law of England, or to the provisions of any existing or future
Act
of Parliament of the United Kingdom, or to any order, rule, or
regulation
made under any such Act, and the powers of the Parliament of a Dominion
shall include the power to repeal or amend any such Act, order, rule or
regulation in so far as the same is part of the law of the Dominion.
SECTION 3Power of
Parliament
of Dominionto
Legislate
Extra-Territorially
It is hereby declared and
enacted that the Parliament of a Dominion has full power to make laws
having
extra-territorial operation.
SECTION 4Parliament
of
United
KingdomNot to
Legislate
for
Dominion Except By Its Consent
No Act of Parliament of the
United Kingdom passed after the commencement of this Act shall extend
or
be deemed to extend, to a Dominion as part of the law of that Dominion,
unless it is expressly declared in that Act that that Dominion has
requested,
and consented to, the enactment thereof.
SECTION 5Powers
of Dominion
Parliamentsin
Relation to
Merchant
Shipping
Without prejudice to the
generality of the foregoing provisions of this Act, sections seven
hundred
and thirty-five and seven hundred and thirty-six of the Merchant
Shipping
Act, 1894, shall be construed as though reference therein to the
Legislature
of a British possession did not include reference to the Parliament of
a Dominion.
SECTION 6Powers
of Dominion
Parliamentsin
Relation to
Courts
of Admiralty
Without prejudice to a generality
of the foregoing provisions of this Act, section four of the Colonial
Courts
of Admiralty Act, 1890 (which requires certain laws to be reserved for
the signification of His Majesty's pleasure or to contain a suspending
clause), and so much of section seven of that Act as requires the
approval
of His Majesty in Council to any rules of Court for regulating the
practice
and procedure of a Colonial Court of Admiralty, shall cease to have
effect
in any Dominion as from the commencement of this Act.
SECTION 7Saving
for British
North
AmericaActs and
Applications
of the Act to Canada
(1) Nothing in this Act shall
be deemed to apply to the repeal, amendment or alteration of the
British
North America Acts, 1867 to 1930, or any order, rule or regulation made
thereunder.cralaw:red
(2) The provisions of section
two of this Act shall extend to laws made by any of the Provinces of
Canada
and to the powers of the legislatures of such Provinces.cralaw:red
(3) The powers conferred
by this Act upon the Parliament of Canada or upon the legislatures of
the
Provinces shall be restricted to the enactment of laws in the relation
to matters within the competence of the Parliament of Canada or of any
of the legislatures of the Provinces respectively.
SECTION 8Saving
for
Constitution
Acts of Australia and New Zealand
Nothing in this Act shall
be deemed to confer any power to repeal or alter the Constitution or
the
Constitution Act of the Commonwealth of Australia or the Constitution
Act
of the Dominion of New Zealand otherwise than in accordance with the
law
existing before the commencement of this Act.
SECTION 9Saving
With
Respect
to States of Australia
(1) Nothing in this Act shall
be deemed to authorize the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia
to make laws on any matter within the authority of the States of
Australia,
not being a matter within the authority of the Parliament or Government
of the Commonwealth of Australia.cralaw:red
(2) Nothing in this Act shall
be deemed to require the concurrence of the Parliament or Government of
the Commonwealth of Australia, in any law made by the Parliament of the
United Kingdom with respect to any matter within the authority of the
States
of Australia, not being a matter within the authority of the Parliament
or Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, in any case where it
would
have been in accordance with the constitutional practice existing
before
the commencement of this Act that the Parliament of the United Kingdom
should make that law without such concurrence.cralaw:red
(3) In the application of
this Act to the Commonwealth of Australia the request and consent
referred
to in section four shall mean the request and consent of the Parliament
and Government of the Commonwealth.
SECTION
10Certain
Sections
of
ActNot to
Apply to
Australia,
New Zealand or NewfoundlandUnless
Adopted
(1) None of the following
sections of this Act, that is to say, sections two, three, four, five
and
six, shall extend to a Dominion to which this section applies as part
of
the law of that Dominion unless that section is adopted by the
Parliament
of the Dominion, and any Act of that Parliament adopting any section of
this Act may provide that the adoption shall have effect either from
the
commencement of this Act or from such later date as is specified in the
adopting Act.cralaw:red
(2) The Parliament of any
such Dominion as aforesaid may at any time revoke the adoption of any
section
referred to in subsection (1) of this section.cralaw:red
(3) The Dominions to which
this section applies are the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of
New Zealand and Newfoundland.
SECTION
11Meaning
of
"Colony"
in Future Acts
Notwithstanding anything
in the Interpretation Act, 1889, the expression "Colony" shall not, in
any Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the
commencement
of this Act, include a Dominion or any Province or State forming a part
of a Dominion.
SECTION
12Short
TitleThis Act may be cited as
the Statute of Westminster, 1931.
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