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In theBritish Empire, aself-governing colony was acolony withresponsible government in which theExecutive Council was appointed from the majority in the electedLegislative Assembly. This gave the colony nearly fullinternal autonomy while reserving control of foreign and defence policy, for the most part, to London. This was in contrast to aCrown colony, in which theBritish Government ruled directly via an appointed Governor, with or without the assistance of an appointed Council.
Self-governing colonies for the most part had no formal authority overconstitutional matters such as themonarchy and the constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom. TheJudicial Committee of the Privy Council in London serves as the ultimate avenue of appeal in matters of law andjustice.
Colonies have sometimes been referred to as "self-governing" in situations where theexecutive has been under the control of neither the imperial government nor a local legislature elected byuniversal suffrage but by a localoligarchy. In most cases such control had been exercised by aruling class from asettler community.
In 1983, the then-remaining British colonies, self-governing (notablyBermuda) or Crown (notablyHong Kong), were re-designated asBritish Dependent Territories, and in 2002 asBritish Overseas Territories.
The term "self-governing colony" has sometimes been used in relation to the direct rule of aCrown colony by anexecutive governor, elected under a limited franchise, such as theMassachusetts Bay Colony between 1630 and 1684.
The first local legislatures raised in theEnglish overseas possessions were theHouse of Burgesses ofVirginia (1619) and theHouse of Assembly of Bermuda (1620), originally part of Virginia. TheParliament of Bermuda, which now also includes aSenate, is the third-oldest in theCommonwealth of Nations, after theTynwald and Westminster (currently theParliament of the United Kingdom). Of the three, only Bermuda's has legislated continuously, with theRoyalist camp maintaining control of the archipelago during theCommonwealth of England andthe Protectorate.
However, in the modern sense of the term, the first self-governing colony is generally considered to have been theProvince of Canada, in 1841;[citation needed] the colony gained responsible government in 1849. All the colonies ofBritish North America became self-governing between 1848 and 1855, except theColony of Vancouver Island.Nova Scotia was the first colony to achieveresponsible government in January–February 1848 through the efforts ofJoseph Howe, followed by theProvince of Canada later that year. They were followed byPrince Edward Island in 1851,New Brunswick, andNewfoundland in 1855 underPhilip Francis Little. The Canadian colonies were federated as aDominion in stages between 1867 and 1873, except for Newfoundland, which remained a separate self-governing colony, was a separateDominion from 1907–1949 and joined Canada in 1949. However, the term "self-governing colony" is not widely used by Canadian constitutional experts.
InAustralia, the term self-governing colony is widely used by historians and constitutional lawyers in relation to the political arrangements in the British settler colonies of Australasia —New South Wales,Queensland,South Australia,Tasmania,Victoria andWestern Australia — between 1852 and 1901, when the six colonies agreed toFederation and became a Dominion.
In 1852, the British Parliament passed TheNew Zealand Constitution Act, paving the way for a centralNew Zealand government with an elected General Assembly (Parliament) and six provincial governments. The General Assembly first met in 1854. Provincial governments were abolished in 1877. New Zealand had the option in 1901 of becoming a state within the new Australian Federation, but there was major opposition to the idea. In 1907, New Zealand gained the status of Dominion.
Insouthern Africa, theCape Colony was granted representative government in 1852, followed by responsible government in 1872.Natal became self-governing in 1893,Transvaal in 1906 andOrange River Colony in 1908. These four colonies were united as aunitary Dominion, theUnion of South Africa, in 1910).Southern Rhodesia (laterZimbabwe), became a self-governing colony in 1923.[1]
Malta was also a self-governing colony between 1921 and 1933, 1947 and 1958, and 1962 until independence two years later.
Dominions were self-governing entities during the mid-to-late-19th century and early 20th century, with much more autonomy than self-governing colonies. In the Dominions, prior to theStatute of Westminster in 1931, aGovernor General, officially the monarch's representative, was an officer of the British government.
After the agreement on theBalfour Declaration 1926 and the Statute of Westminster 1931, the Dominions were recognized as equal to the United Kingdom. After that time, the Dominions were largely free to act in matters of defence and foreign affairs, if they so chose and "Dominion" gradually acquired a new meaning: a state which was independent of Britain, but which shared theBritish monarch as the official head of state. The term Dominion has since largely fallen out of use and been replaced with the termRealm.
In 1981, under theBritish Nationality Act 1981 and reflecting the change in status toward devolved self-government (and depriving colonials of the rights of abode and work in the United Kingdom), self-governing and Crown colonies were renamed "British Dependent Territories".[2] This terminology caused offence to both loyalists and nationalists in the territories and was changed in 2002, by the means of theBritish Overseas Territories Act 2002, toBritish Overseas Territories.[3]