Balfour Declaration of 1926

The Balfour report was prepared in 1926 by a committee for the redefinition of relations within the British Empire. He belonged to the Prime Minister of the British mother country and its counterparts from the self-governing Dominions Canada, the Irish Free State, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It was chaired by the former British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour. He coined the now famous definition of the relations between the Dominions and Great Britain, which summarized the findings of the report:

"They are autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of Their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. "

"They [the Dominions and Great Britain ] are autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal rights, in no way subordinate in any aspect of the internal and foreign policy to one another, yet united by a common allegiance to the Crown and voluntarily joined together as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. "

This formulation was equivalent to the sovereignty of the Dominions of Great Britain, which was formally in 1931 finally confirmed by the British Parliament in the Statute of Westminster. The Balfour Report was the final departure from the federation thought, which in the early twenties of the 20th century had been discussed as a possible state structure for the British Empire. This report exemplifies the pursuit of the Dominions after complete sovereignty of Great Britain and forms the beginning of the slow dissolution of the British Empire, its successor, the Commonwealth of Nations, today is a loose organization of fully independent states.

• British colonial history
• 1926
• Communiqué