What is the Commonwealth simple definition?
1 : a nation, state, or other political unit: such as. a : one founded on law and united by compact or tacit agreement of the people for the common good. b : one in which supreme authority is vested in the people. c : republic.
What is the purpose of a Commonwealth state?
The Commonwealth states form themselves into a free, sovereign, and independent body politic, or state.” This framing of the state as a commonwealth derives from language of 17th-century thinkers like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and refers to the goal of creating a political community for the common good.
What is the status of the Commonwealth member states?
Currently, sixteen of the 54 member states are Commonwealth realms, with the Head of the Commonwealth as their heads of state, five others are monarchies with their own individual monarchs (Brunei, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malaysia and Tonga), and the rest are republics.
What is a Commonwealth in legal terms?
A commonwealth is properly a free state, or republic, having a popular or representative government. The term has been, applied to the government of Great Britain. It is not applicable to absolute governments. The states composing the United States are, properly, so many commonwealths.
Why is it called commonwealth?
Originally a phrase (the common-wealth or the common wealth – echoed in the modern synonym “public wealth”), it comes from the old meaning of “wealth”, which is “well-being”, and is itself a loose translation of the Latin res publica (republic). The term literally meant “common well-being”.
What does it mean to live in a commonwealth state?
A commonwealth refers to any group of people organized under a single government, particularly a republic. If you live in the United States of America, you live in a commonwealth.
What does it mean for a state to be a Commonwealth?
Commonwealth is a term used by four of the 50 states of the United States in their full official state names. “Commonwealth” is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. As such, they share a strong influence of English common law in some of their laws and institutions.
What is commonwealth in US law?
What is commonwealth in court?
: a court in Pennsylvania that hears cases involving administrative agencies or other governmental bodies.