Free US Law Dictionary

Commonwealth

The English noun commonwealth dates from the fifteenth century. The original phrase "common-wealth" or "the common weal" comes from the old meaning of "wealth," which is "well-being". The term literally meant "common well-being". Thus commonwealth originally meant a state or nation-state governed for the common good as opposed to an authoritarian state governed for the benefit of a given class of owners. The word was a calque on the Latin phrase res publica meaning "public affairs" or "the state", from which the English word republic arises.

Today the term is more general and means a political community.

The type of community indicated by the term commonwealth varies. For instance, in different contexts it might indicate:

• a political unit founded in law by agreement of the people for the common good;
• a federated union of constituent states;
• a community of sovereign states;
• a republic;
• a democratic constitutional monarchy;

When capitalized, "Commonwealth" normally refers to the 53 member Commonwealth of Nations — formerly the "British Commonwealth" — a loose confederation of nations formerly members of the British Empire (with one exception: Mozambique, which was a Portuguese possession). The Commonwealth's membership includes both republics and monarchies and the (appointed, not hereditary) head of the Commonwealth of Nations is Queen Elizabeth II. She also reigns as monarch directly in a number of states, known as Commonwealth Realms, notably the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Jamaica and New Zealand. The Commonwealth of Nations is sometimes referred to as the New Commonwealth in a British context.