It is like that old and totally bogus “got ya” pub quiz- “How many states in the USA” 50 right? No, the pub answer is 46 since 4 states call themselves “commonwealths”. However, that is wrong- in America the Constitution is the supreme law of the land- and in it- there are only states. We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Thanks for an entertaining and informative post. The idea of an intercontinental country a Mari usque ad Mare was especially interesting to me as I just watched Ken Burns fascinating documentary “The West” on westward expansion, which will be a separate thread.
My Ontario city has all sorts of old-timey buildings which still use the name Dominion. I never appreciated the concept of rank, so thanks for elucidating that.
It is ironic Canadians (at least their senior civil servants) were so concerned with not upsetting Americans. Plus ça change, except these days Trump wishes to be king long after Washington refused the idea (three times, IIRC, before consenting to a simple orange coloured laurel wreath).
If the name Dominion was to be feared, it was perhaps referring to Ontario’s most decrepit defunct grocery store; the specific Dominion’s nearest the University of Toronto campus. The Dominion Automobile Association is gone, but RBCs investment wing has not.
And this grocery chain only went defunct in the 2000s, after it was bought out by a different chain called Metro. Until about the age of 8, I knew of no other Dominion but the supermarket. The first time I saw the term “Dominion of Canada”, I was left confused and didn’t understand what the connection to the store chain was. I think I imagined the latter term to refer to some geographic / geological area, like the Canadian Shield.
Having grown up around Dominions, I quite miss their old lettering / logo, with the distinctive not-quite Gothic-font red “D” into which a green maple leaf has been inserted. Nothing endearing about successor Metro’s nondescript red lettering.
“Realm” is more commonly used, but only within discussions of the commonwealth, to flag that we retain the monarch, as opposed to commonwealth republics.
“Constitutional monarchy” also gets a lot of use, for political science discussions.
It’s also useful to compare our provision to section 3 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, also a British statute. It reads similarly to s. 3 of the BNA Act, with one significant difference:
3 It shall be lawful for the Queen, with the advice of the Privy Council, to declare by proclamation that, on and after a day therein appointed, not being later than one year after the passing of this Act, the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania, and also, if Her Majesty is satisfied that the people of Western Australia have agreed thereto, of Western Australia, shall be united in a Federal Commonwealth under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia. But the Queen may, at any time after the proclamation, appoint a Governor-General for the Commonwealth.
Most states adopt a name which includes an indication of the form of government of that state. For monarchies, this it typically in the form of, e.g, Kingdom of Belgium; Kindgom of Denmark; Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland. For states with a republican form of government, the commonest forms are either e,g, Republic of Bulgaria; Federal Republic of Germany; Republic of Cyprus or e.g. French Republic; Hellenic Republic; Italian Republic.
There are a few edge cases where the name adopted doesn’t clearly point to a particular form of government. You wouldn’t know from the name alone that the United States of America has a republican form of government, or that the Commonwealth of Australia is a monarchy, or that the Swiss Confederation is a republic. But these names still tell you something about the character of the state — often, that it has a federal character.
And then there are states whose names point to no characteristics at all. There are not many of these but they include Canada, Ireland, Romania and, arguably, the State of Israel. Some of these, including Ireland and Canada, do have an officially-adopted “rank” or “description” which characterises the state, but doesn’t form part of its name.
SFAIK none of the Commonwealth realms, apart from the UK, have a name that includes the word “kingdom”. The name either includes no characterisation at all — Angtigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Belize — or takes the form of Commonwealth of, Federation of, Independent State of.
In 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were “United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain”. It was sometimes referred to as “the united kingdom”, but the official name was the Kingdom of Great Britain.
In 1801, The Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. “United” was now an official part of the country’s name.
In 1922, the Catholic parts of Ireland became the Irish Free State.
In 1927, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Great Britain is the name of an island. Leaving out “…and Northern Ireland” seems a bit rude, or else a political statement declaring your position on Irish reunification.“United Kingdom” is a better shortening, which does seem to make “Kingdom” part of the name and not just a rank.
“United Kingdom” is indeed part of the name, and a common abbreviation of the name, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, just as “United States” is part of the name, and a common abbreviation of the name, of the United States of America.
But the language quoted about being "“United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain” dates from 1707, when the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were joined to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Ireland was not a part of this kingdom; it continued to be a separate kingdom until 1801.
When the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland were united into a single kingdom in 1801, that new kingdom adopted the name “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland”, later modified to “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”
The process of joining England and Scotland was referred to as “uniting” them, and the resultant kingdom was sometimes referred to as the “united kingdom”, particularly when it was mentioned in contexts that distinguished it from the two predecessor kingdoms. But its formal name was the Kingdom of Great Britain, not the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
Argh. I was clearer BEFORE I edited my post. What I meant is that using “Great Britain” as the name of the UKoGBaNI is a problematic abbreviation in a way that “United Kingdom” is not, because GB is exclusive (of NI) while UK is inclusive. Therefore, to my mind, UK is inarguably part of the name as well as being descriptive.
However, that is wrong- in America the Constitution is the supreme law of the land- and in it- there are only states.