共同元首國家與國際法－以英國與澳紐加拿大為例

The head of state is the chief representative of a state to its people and to other countries. This constitutional position is endowed with symbolic and/or actual power. A personal union is a special state-to-state relationship when two or more sovereign states share a single monarch. Personal unions vary with circumstances due to particular political and legal traditions as well as different demands and mandates from the people. Certain personal unions without legal delineation actually function as loose associations, in some instances with less internal cohesion than that of international coalitions. Some personal unions remain loose associations of independent states, some coalesce into federations, and still others eventually dissolve. Personal unions are a dying species since the Twentieth Century. The largest personal union is the Commonwealth Realms, composed of the United Kingdom and fifteen other members of the Commonwealth that have Queen Elizabeth II as the reigning monarch. This article studies the interrelations of the United Kingdon, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada to examine the legal implications of separate states sharing a single monarch.