British Overseas Territories
territories under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The British Overseas Territories are the fourteen[1] territories which are under the United Kingdom's sovereignty.[2]
Before 1981 they were known as colonies or Crown colonies. The British Overseas Territories are also referred to as overseas territories of the United Kingdom,[3] UK overseas territories,[4] or when the context is clear, simply the Overseas Territories.[1]
Each of the British Overseas Territories has a parliament, government and prime minister to make all laws, except laws about defence and foreign affairs. The British government manages their defence and foreign affairs. British Overseas Territories which have no local population or any population, have no local self-rule. If the British Overseas Territory is ruled badly, the government of the British Overseas Territory can be taken over by the British government and ruled directly by it, without the agreement of the British Overseas Territory.
The territories of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, though under the sovereignty of the British Crown, have a slightly different constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom, so they are classed as Crown dependencies rather than Overseas Territories. Unlike British Overseas Territories, the British government cannot take over the government of a Crown dependency, unless the government of the Crown dependency agrees. Territories and dependencies are distinct from the Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary association of former British colonies which are independent countries.
In a historical context, colonies should be distinguished from protectorates and protected states, which though under British control, were nominally independent states, whereas colonies were part of the British state. They should also not be confused with Dominions, which, known collectively as the Commonwealth, were independent states, held to be equal in sovereign status to the United Kingdom within the Empire and Commonwealth after the Statute of Westminster in 1931. Crown colonies, such as Hong Kong, were differentiated from other colonies in being administered directly by the Crown, without the degree of local autonomy found in self-governed colonies and other British overseas territories such as Bermuda.