Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (September 2022) |
Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 | |
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Parliament of Australia | |
Long title
| |
Royal assent | 9 October 1942 |
Commenced | 9 October 1942 (retroactive to 3 September 1939) |
Amended by | |
1986 (minor) | |
Related legislation | |
Australia Act 1986 | |
Status: Current legislation |
The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 is an act of the Australian Parliament that formally adopted sections 2–6 of the Statute of Westminster 1931, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom enabling the total legislative independence of the various self-governing Dominions of the British Empire. With its enactment, Westminster relinquished nearly all of its authority to legislate for the Dominions, effectively making them de jure sovereign nations.
With the enactment of the Adoption Act, the British Parliament could no longer legislate for the Commonwealth without the express request and consent of the Australian Parliament. The act received
The Act is more important for its symbolic value than for the legal effect of its provisions. While Australia's growing independence from the United Kingdom was well accepted, the adoption of the Statute of Westminster formally demonstrated Australia's independence to the world.
Background
Australia's progression to effective independence was gradual and largely without incident.
When the
The Statute of Westminster
During the 1926 Imperial Conference, the governments of the Dominions and of the United Kingdom endorsed the Balfour Declaration of 1926, which declared that the Dominions were autonomous members of the British Empire, equal to each other and to the United Kingdom. The Statute of Westminster 1931 gave legal effect to the Balfour Declaration and other decisions made at the Imperial Conferences. Most importantly, it declared that the Parliament of the United Kingdom no longer had any legislative authority over the Dominions. Previously, the Dominions were legally self-governing colonies of the United Kingdom, and thus had no legal international status. The Statute made the Dominions de jure independent nations.
The Statute took effect immediately over Canada, South Africa and the
In 1930, shortly before the Statute was enacted, the
Adoption
1937 bill
For a decade after its creation, adoption of the Statute was not seen as a priority for Australian governments. In June 1937, the
In introducing the 1937 bill, Attorney-General Robert Menzies said that adopting the Statute had only "relatively minor advantages" and would alter Australia's existing constitutional arrangements "to a very trifling extent". He observed that "the real and administrative legislative independence of Australia has never been challenged since the Commonwealth was created", and said the primary reason for adopting the Statute was to bring Australia "into line uniformly with the other dominions" who had already adopted it.[2]
1942 bill
John Curtin, who became prime minister eight weeks before the Imperial Japanese Navy's attack on Pearl Harbor, was finally prompted to adopt the Statute in 1942 after the Fall of Singapore and the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse. Prior conservative governments had asserted that British military forces would be able to protect Australia, but Curtin, along with External Affairs Minister Dr H. V. Evatt, thought that focusing on an alliance with the United States would be more valuable.
Before the 1940s, the United Kingdom had managed Australia's foreign relations as a matter of course. Curtin's decision to formally adopt the Statute of Westminster in late 1942 was a demonstration to the international community that Australia was an independent nation.
The immediate prompt for the adoption of the Statute of Westminster was the death sentence imposed on two homosexual Australian sailors for the murder of their crewmate committed on HMAS Australia in 1942. Since 7 November 1939, the Royal Australian Navy had operated subject to British imperial law, under which the two men were sentenced to death. It was argued that this would not have been their sentence if Australian law had applied, but the only way for the Australian government to get the sentences altered was by directly petitioning the King, who commuted them to life imprisonment. Adopting the Statute of Westminster, so that Australia became able to amend applicable imperial law, avoided a potential repetition of this situation. The men's sentences were later further reduced.[3][4]
Provisions of the Act
The act had just three sections, one setting out the
Section 2 of the Statute of Westminster abrogated the effect of the
Section 5 of the Statute removed British control over
References
- ISBN 978-1-86287-406-0.
- ^ Menzies, Robert (25 August 1937). "Statute of Westminster Adoption Bill 1937: Second Reading". Hansard – Parliament of Australia.
- ^ Clark, Chris (2009). "The Statute of Westminster and the murder in HMAS Australia, 1942" (PDF). Australian Defence Force Journal (179): 18–29. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
- ^ R v Bevan [1942] HCA 12; (1942) CLR 452.
- ^ "Parliamentary Handbook: Constitution – Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942". Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 20 May 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
- ^ "Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act 1890 (UK), s 4". National Archives (UK). Retrieved 24 January 2017.
- "Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942". legislation.gov.au. 3 March 1986. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- "Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942". National Archives of Australia: Documenting a Democracy. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
- "Independent Foreign Policy". John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library. October 2004. Retrieved 4 August 2005.
Further reading
- Lee, David (2016). "States rights and Australia's adoption of the statute of Westminster, 1931–1942". History Australia. 13 (2): 258–274. .