Abstract

N any political debate it is necessary from time to time that we should remind ourselves of the distinction between those things which may be changed as the result of discussion and those which cannot. The debate itself, unless it assumes the possibility of breaking up the society within which it takes place, must move within the limits defined by those permanent conditions which are essential to the integrity and continuity of that society. Whether we are dealing with statutory changes which modify the legal structure, or with those conventional understandings, often more important, which govern its political working, the principle remains the same. New formulae, legal or political, can change much, but their possible scope is very definitely limited. The definition of new formulae was the principal task of the Imperial Conference of 1926, and the details of the outline which it drew were partly filled in by the Conference on Dominion Legislation, which presented its report last February. Both documents have been under review at the 1930 session of the Imperial Conference, and the present article, written before the results of this Conference can be made public, makes no attempt to forecast the form which its decisions