Abstract

The political and constitutional dynamics defining the Commonwealth of Nations have their roots in the preceding imperial constitutional order characterised by the co-existence of various different models of constitutional status, political legitimacy, autonomy, and jurisdiction. Protectorates, Dominions, Chartered Company Territories, Annexed Lands, de facto Occupations, League of Nations Mandated Territories, and United Nations Trust Territories were the various formal labels through which different parts of British Africa were integrated into the Empire. Imperial constitutionalism in Africa, and the different political and constitutional rights and responsibilities it established, created long-term historical consequences for the constitutional order of the Commonwealth of Nations