That said, each member country has its own unique history, constitution and legal system and for this reason it is important not to over emphasise the similarities but rather to consider the legal system of each country a distinct and separate entity.īritish Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies which are not Commonwealth members The Commonwealth, as an organisation, does not create any law in its own right, but because of the shared colonial history of the majority of members, similarities exist in many of their legal systems and legal literature.

In fact, Commonwealth members have a range of constitutions including republics and monarchies. Whilst all members of the Commonwealth recognize His Majesty King Charles III as Head of the Commonwealth, he is Head of State in only 15 member countries, including the UK, Canada and Australia. A list of members is available on the Commonwealth website at and a table of members listed by region is provided below: The Commonwealth covers around one-third of the world's population. Many members of the Commonwealth, though not all, are former British territories and were part of Britain's colonial Empire. The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 independent and equal countries.

What does the commonwealth do