Balfour Declaration of 1926

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Not to be confused with the Balfour Declaration of 1917.

The Balfour Declaration of 1926, named after the British Lord President of the Council Arthur Balfour, Earl of Balfour, was the name given to a report resulting from the 1926 Imperial Conference of British Empire leaders in London. It states that the United Kingdom and the Dominions:

"...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."

The report should not be confused with the Balfour Declaration of 1917 by which Balfour, then the British Foreign Secretary, communicated the British government's support for a Jewish national home in Palestine.

The inter-imperial relations committee, chaired by Balfour, drew up the document preparatory to its approval by the imperial premiers on November 15. It was first proposed by South African Prime Minister James Barry Munnik Hertzog and Canada's Prime Minister at that time, William Lyon Mackenzie King.

The document was not accepted the growing political and diplomatic independence within the dominions, in particular Canada, since World War I. It also recommended that the governors-general, the representatives of the King, who acted for the crown as head of state in each dominion, should no longer serve automatically also as the representative of the British government in diplomatic relations between the countries. In following years, High Commissioners were gradually appointed, whose duties were soon recognised to be virtually identical to those of an ambassador. The first such British High Commissioner was appointed to Ottawa in 1928.

The conclusions of the conference were restated by the 1930 conference and incorporated in the December 1931 Statute of Westminster by which the British Parliament renounced any legislative authority over dominion affairs except as specifically provided in dominion law.