The Statute of Westminster 1931 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that established the legislative independence of the self-governing Dominions of the British Empire, including Australia, Canada, and South Africa. It provided that no Act of the UK Parliament would extend to a Dominion unless the Dominion had requested and consented to its enactment. Australia did not adopt the Statute until 1942, backdated to 1939, reflecting a cautious approach to formal constitutional independence while the country was already functionally autonomous in most respects.