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Definition
2.
There is no exact legal definition of what exactly constitutes a
dependent territory'. However, the definition of a "dependency" given in the Oxford Dictionary "a country or province subject to the control of another of which it does not form an integral part"
has been cited in legal cases*. This definition would include the
Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus which are not part of the United Kingdom, but these are excluded for the purposes of this paper. To avoid confusion the paper uses the term'dependent territory' rather than 'dependency' (except when referring to dependencies of dependent territories such
as St Helena Dependencies). In British (and French) colonial
practice, the attachment of an often remote island or territory to a colony as a dependency of it, was a constitutional expedient used mainly for administrative purposes. It placed the territory under
the administering authority of some larger, or more developed colony
possessing full administrative and judicial machinery. As the
status of dependency was an administrative convenience, subsequent
detachment from a colony was not regarded by the UK (or France) as a
division of some indivisible legal whole. Dependencies could be and
often were made and unmade at will and detached or attached as
between one colony and another by exercise of the Royal prerogative
(examples include British Indian Ocean Territory, Cayman Islands and British Antarctic Territory).
II UK OBLIGATIONS, POLICY AND COSTS
Obligations
3. The UK's obligations towards its dependent territories are
enshrined in the United Nations Charter (1945) which devotes a
Chapter (XI) to the responsibilities of the Administering States,
(although stated UK obligations to its Dependent Territories date
* Sir Kenneth Roberts-Wray, Commonwealth and Colonial Law, London
1966.
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