Statute of Westminster 1931
Implications for succession to the throne

The preamble to the Statute of Westminster sets out a guideline for changing the rules of succession to the Crown. The second paragraph of the preamble to the statute reads:

And whereas it is meet and proper to set out by way of preamble to this act that, inasmuch as the Crown is the symbol of the free association of the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and as they are united by a common allegiance to the Crown, it would be in accord with the established constitutional position of all the members of the Commonwealth in relation to one another that any alteration in the law touching the succession to the throne or the royal style and titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom:

Though a preamble is not considered to have the force of statute law, that of the Statute of Westminster has come to be a constitutional convention, which "has always been treated in practice as though it were a binding requirement". The convention was then adopted by every country that subsequently gained its independence from Britain and became a Commonwealth realm.
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