Talk:Dominion/Archive 2

Dominion Bank
I made a change to the reference "Toronto-Dominion Bank (founded as the Bank of Toronto in 1855" to "founded as the Dominion Bank in 1871 and later merged with the Bank Of Toronto" this brings the statement into line with the subject of the article Mcmatter (talk) 18:12, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

Reverted Spelling corrections
Recognized, sizable and pressurized were spelled correctly, I have reverted that edit. I also standardized those words through out the article. Mcmatter (talk) 14:44, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
 * You also uncorrected "nevetherless". I restored the typical British English spellings (which are also correct) per WP:TIES. -- JHunterJ (talk) 14:54, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Fair enough, I forgot to correct "nevertherless" when I standardized the rest of them, my bad. Mcmatter (talk) 15:00, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

Removal of citation to poor quality source
I have removed the footnoted reference in the lede to this PDF file. Although on a university server, it's of very poor quality, especially as a reference for the fairly technical subject of "Dominion status". My guess is that it's simply notes written up by an (anonymous) student.

Besides the fact that two of its five sources are general encyclopaedias, it not being footnoted, and the weak quality of its interpretations, it's only a general history of the British Empire. It also contains a number of blatant errors and misleading statements, such as Australia being discovered in 1788, the Cape of Good Hope being conquered by the British in 1814, the two former Boer republics becoming self-governing colonies in 1902, and (worst of all) the shipping of African slaves to British America beginning in 1162! The timeline tops it all off by claiming that South Africa gained Dominion status as a non-White country in consequence of the Second World War...!

Andrew Gwilliam (talk) 13:20, 14 August 2011 (UTC).

Spurious globalize tag
A quick check of the interwiki links show they all refer to Dominion (United Kingdom) as noted in the edit log. That's the globalization, the interwiki links. 72.228.177.92 (talk) 19:31, 8 January 2012 (UTC)
 * There have been more dominions than those of the United Kingdom. The current article does not represent a worldwide perspective.--R-41 (talk) 04:21, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

The word "dominion" has multiple meanings. While it does not exclusively refers to the former British possessions, "Dominion" was a British legal term used to refer to the former self-governing colonies or the latter Commonwealth Realms. Instead of reworking the article to reflect a global perspective, I suggest a page move to British Dominions (which is a previous title of this page), or Dominions of the British Empire (there is a difference between the "United Kingdom" and the "British Empire", as the former only refers to the United Kingdom proper in the British Isles while the latter refers to the whole empire). Then, we can start a new article here putting the term in a worldwide perspective, or move Dominion (disambiguation) here. -- Joshua Say "hi" to me!What I've done? 03:50, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Misstatement for deletion
The section headed "The Second Balfour Declaration and the Statute of Westminster" ends with this misstatement, which should be removed: ''The United Kingdom and its component parts never aspired to the title of "Dominion", remaining anomalies within the network of free and independent equal members of the empire and Commonwealth. ....[citation needed]''. That seems to be due to a misunderstanding of the origin and purpose of the designation "Dominion" in, before or after the Balfour Declaration, which is sufficiently explained elsewhere in the article and sources. Even if it were supported by a reliable source it would need explanation, and would be out of place in this article, which is giving a factually mainstream account of history and of current usage. Historically, what is now the UK was once the two separate kingdoms of England (later with Wales, sometimes known as a dominion and sometimes as the Principality) and Scotland which eventually became a single united kingdom, in the century after under James, who was reigning as King of Scotland, succeeded before succeeding Elizabeth to the throne of England. Meantime, under Henry VIII the English kings' Lordship of Ireland had been converted into a kingdom under the English monarch until becoming the third of the three constituent kingdoms of the union. Thereafter, His/Her Majesty's dominions was used, generically and otherwise, of territories which had been governed as colonies under the British Crown, as narrated and explained in the article. Qexigator (talk) 16:30, 12 July 2013 (UTC)

-Correction, Scotland and England did not become one country when James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne. The two Kingdoms remained separate (it being simply that the person who was King/Queen of Scotland was King/Queen of England) until 1707, when the Act of Union merged the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain. The same was true for Ireland (constitutionally, the person who was King/Queen of Ireland just happened to also be King of England/Great Britain, though the Kingdom of Ireland was not quite as independent in practice as the Kingdom of Scotland was, even when the Scottish and English crowns were worn by the same person. This was the case until the second Act of Union of 1891, which merged the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.JWULTRABLIZZARD (talk) 16:38, 12 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for quick prompt to correct that error, wrongly eliding James I with later Act of Union. Qexigator (talk) 17:08, 12 July 2013 (UTC)

List of Dominions, table col. 4: "status"
It would agree more with the facts to change the fourth column by making the heading Reason for end to dominion status, leaving out "Became Commonwealth Realm in 1953", and adjusting the third and fourth columns for the three which later ceased to be a dominion on becoming a republic, per,,. The section "From Dominions to Commonwealth realms" carefully explains that only three dominions had changed status before 1953, two on becoming republics, and one on becoming part of Canada, while the others did not change status in 1953: ''Present-day general usage prefers the term realm because it includes the United Kingdom as well... The generic language of dominion... was, and is, used to describe territories in which the monarch exercises her sovereignty. The phrase Her Majesty's dominions being a legal and constitutional phrase that refers to all the realms and territories of the Sovereign, whether independent or not.'' (Note: the passage here part quoted may need some copyedit.) Qexigator (talk) 09:56, 11 July 2013 (UTC)

After changing the heading of col. 4 to Reason for end to dominion status, changes in the List of Dominions which would then be appropriate:
 * In column 3 and 4, blank except
 * Newfoundland - 1949 - Became a province of Canada under the British North America Act, 1949 (now the Newfoundland Act) passed in the U.K. parliament, 31 March 1949
 * Irish Free State / Ireland[‡ 2] no change
 * India no change
 * Ceylon, Pakistan, South Africa - Became a republic (year).

Qexigator (talk) 12:25, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Changes now done. Qexigator (talk) 08:20, 12 July 2013 (UTC)

Would not a little note to say Newfoundland continued technically to be a Dominion until 1949 not go amiss?JWULTRABLIZZARD (talk) 15:59, 12 July 2013 (UTC)


 * The text under Newfoundland states "In 1949, the Dominion of Newfoundland joined Canada and the legislature was restored". We need not have too much repetition. Qexigator (talk) 19:58, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

Terminology - D/dominion - status
Something to have in mind when making revising edits. Change of "status" in a formal, legal constitutional sense can usually be tied to some definite act or event, but there can be an interim period of uncertainty, such as Irish Free State or Newfoundland; and in the meantime, partly due to negotiating positions taken by governments, the terminology commonly used from time to time may not allow a clear-cut point in time when "D/dominion" lapsed and was usurped by "Commonwealth R/realm" in all places and contexts. Questions of terminolgy, about the varying uses of "D/dominion" and "R/realm" (generic, descriptive, denoting constitutional or quasi-constitutional status) have been recurrent here and at Talk:Commonwealth realm from way back Talk:Dominion/Archive 1 (2005: status of Newfoundland) and more recently from May (including Talk:Commonwealth realm/Archive 14). The contents of the relevant articles, including those about the particular countries and connected topics, are enough to show that there is an important distinction between determining "status" in point of law or accepted constitutional practice between governments, and the terminology used in various other contexts about the countries, at the time of the Imperial Parliament and Imperial Conferences, later on and currently (say, from 2010). Qexigator (talk) 12:21, 15 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Countries became dominions when they were declared such by statute or order in council. When or if that status ever ended is not clear.  All we know is that the term came into disuse.  Similarly it is not clear when the status of Commonwealth Realm  begaan.  All we know is that term came into use.  There is an implication that the term Dominion was changed to Commonwealth Realm.  There are parallels - the term colony was changed to British Overseas Territory and the term British subject was changed to Commonwealth citizen under 1981 Nationality Act.  Those changes in names reflected the changed political reality, but in themselves reflected no change in status.  I will remove or change the misleading information.  TFD (talk) 15:10, 18 August 2013 (UTC)