§ 43 Unitary and Composite States
Classified constitutionally, in respect of their internal structure, instead of internationally, in respect of their external relations, states are of two kinds, being either unitary or composite. A unitary or simple state is one which is not made up of territorial divisions which are states themselves. A composite state on the other hand is one which is itself an aggregate or group of constituent states. The British Empire is composite, because many of its territorial divisions are possessed of such autonomy as to be states themselves. Some of these constituent states are also composite in their turn, Australia and Canada, for example, being composed of unitary states such as Queensland and Quebec.
Composite states (whether dependent or independent) are of two kinds, which may be distinguished as imperial and federal. The difference is to be found in the nature of that common government which is the essential bond of union between the constituent states. In an imperial state the government of one of the parts is at the same time the common government of the whole. In a federal state, on the contrary, the common government is not that of one of the parts, but a central government in which all the constituent states participate. The constitution of the British Empire is imperial; that of the United States of America is federal. In the former, one of the parts, namely, Great Britain and Ireland, is preferred before the others, as supplying the authority which binds all of them into a single whole. The government of the United Kingdom possesses a double capacity, local and imperial. In its local capacity it administers the affairs of England, Scotland, and Ireland, just as the government at Cape Town administers the affairs of Cape Colony. But in another capacity it is the government of the whole empire, and provides the bond of common authority which unites all the constituent states of the empire into a single body politic. In a federal, as contrasted with an imperial constitution, there is no such predominance of one of the constituent states. The government of the whole is one in which all the parts have their allotted shares. The unity of an imperial state is a relation of all the other parts to one of them; the unity of a federal state is a relation of all the parts to a central and common authority.107