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1 Changes In the Legal Structure of the British Commonwealth of Nations 1931

handle is hein.beal/clgsb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 5II CHANGES IN THE LEGAL STRUCTURE OF THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS By ROBERT A. MACKAY Eric Dennis Memorial Professor of Government Dalhousie University The Imperial Conference of 1930 will no doubt go down in history as an important milestone in the evolution of the British Commonwealth. It will be memorable on two counts: First, for the revival of the ideal of an imperial prefe'rential tariff union, and secondly, for the momentous changes agreed to in the legal structure of the Commonwealth. The tariff question evoked much attention, but it remained unsolved; empire preference was dead- locked between the traditional free trade policy of, the Motherland and the aggressive protectionist policies of the daughter states. On economic questions the conference came to no important decisions; it agreed, however, to meet again for further discussion this present year at Ottawa.1 On the other hand on constitutional matters real progress was made. Constitutional questions were, however, eclipsed in the public attention by economic matters, and few but lawyers and scholars appreciate the profound changes wrought in the Empire's constitution. LAW AND CUSTOM IN THE COMMONWEALTH CONSTITUTION It is notorious that the constitutional law of the British Commonwealth of Nations has not kept pace with constitutional facts. Dominion autonomy has supplanted colonial dependency but the constitutional law of the Empire remains fundamentally the same as it was when Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence. The legal supremacy of the British Parliament over the whole Empire is today unquestioned-there were many who questioned it in I776'-and the Crown retains virtually the same legal power to interfere on the advice of His Majesty's Ministers in Great Britain in the affairs of the Dominion of Canada as it had to interfere in Massachusetts or New York I This conference has since been further postponed. s See McIlwain: The American Revolution. [9]