The Organization of a Britannic Partnership Classic Reprint

Excerpt from The Organization of a Britannic Partnership

Lastly, there are the Dominions. Even among the Dominions there is no such thing as complete uniformity of government. Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and New foundland have constitutions differing widely in,many im portant particulars; but they are all alike in one essential respeét - they all enjoy the outstanding characteristic of responsible government. In other words, they not only have representative legislatures but also executive governments which are dependent for their continuance in office on the support of a majority in those legislatures. This is the distinguishing feature of the government of a Dominion, which marks it out from the government of every other type of British possession and causes it to resemble, as closely as the difference between colonial and imperial affairs will allow, the government of the United Kingdom. And it may be remarked in passing that the origin of responsible government is not to be found in any statute. The statutes creating the constitutions of the self governing Dominions contain provisions dealing chiefly with the establishment and composition of legislatures they con tain very little concerning the relations to exist between those legislatures and the executives with which they have to work. The responsible government of the Dominions was copied from the Cabinet system of the United Kingdom, and just as the Cabinet system itself has no statutory basis, but is con structed of constitutional conventions and understandings, so also the responsible government of the Dominions is a matter of convention, not statute, and arose in a purely informal manner from private instruétions issued by the Colonial Office directing the governors to choose as their ministers those who could command a majority in the local legislatures.

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