The organization of a Britannic partnership

Front matter

Amount 5&r.

Published by the University of Manchester at

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS (H. M. McKechnie, M.A., Secretary)

Preface

THIS essay is an attempt to state the forces which are making necessary a reorganization of the machinery for regulating the relations between the United Kingdom and the Dominions, and to suggest the outline of such constitutional modifications and developments as appear to me to meet best the needs which have arisen.

The present position is not due to the war. It would sooner or later have been reached in any case. Nevertheless the war has had an important effect on the problem, for it has accelerated the development of the Empire to such an extent that constitutional events of real importance are now matters of frequent, though often of unnoticed, occurrence. Under such circumstances, I make no claim to have recorded every relevant fact ; my aim has been merely to sketch in broad outline the main tendencies which will govern future developments, and if I have succeeded in doing that I shall be well content.

The important question raised by the refusal of the United States to recognize at the Washington Conference the new international status of the Dominions arose when this work was in the press, and the high cost of printing prohibited the insertion, at that stage, of so much new material as a discussion of the problems involved would have demanded. Likewise the publication of Professor A. B. Keith's War Government of the British Dominions occurred too late for anything more than a passing reference to that authoritative work.

I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor Tout, for valuable advice and encouragement ; to Mr. Ramsay Muir, for reading the work in manuscript and preserving me from several errors in the historical chapters ; to Professor Brierly, for reading the proof-sheets and for much helpful criticism ; and to Miss Edith Hesling, for much assistance in the preparation of the index. It is almost superfluous to add that I alone am responsible for the opinions expressed, and for any errors that may be discovered in the work.

That portion of the book which deals with the rigidity of federal constitutions, and the section containing the discussion of the constitutional problem in India, have appeared in the Law Quarterly Review, and I have to thank the editor and publishers of that magazine for their readily-accorded permission to reproduce them.

R. A. EASTWOOD

The University, Manchester, December 20th, 1921

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