Indian Independence Act, 1947

Every Act this module has studied so far did the same basic thing: Parliament in London decided how much power to hand over, and to whom, inside a system it still ultimately controlled. The Indian Independence Act, 1947 is the one Act that breaks that pattern completely — not by handing over more power, but by giving up the power to decide at all.

In two minutes

The Indian Independence Act, 1947 ended British paramountcy over the subcontinent, created two new independent dominions, India and Pakistan, and closed the legislative history this module has traced from the Charter of 1600 — every earlier Act delegated authority within an imperial system; this one dissolved that system altogether.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of History of Courts on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.