Editing Law of the United Kingdom (section)

===Independent sovereign states with British legal history===

Most [[List of countries that have gained independence from the United Kingdom|countries that have gained independence from the UK]] are no longer subject to the British parliament, monarchy, or courts. They consist of a mix of [[republic]]s (for example [[Ireland]] and [[India]]) and local [[monarchies]] (for example [[Kuwait]] and [[Brunei]]) with no relationship to the royal [[House of Windsor]]. The colonies and possessions were created and separated from the UK under a wide variety of circumstances, resulting in a spectrum of influence of British law in domestic law.

At the strongly influenced end of the spectrum, for example, is the [[United States]]. The [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]] explicitly applied [[English Common Law]] to all British overseas colonies, and affirmed some degree of local law-making. The [[American Revolutionary War]] resulted in a unilateral separation recognized by the [[Peace of Paris (1783)]], but the English system continued to be used as the basis for court decisions.

Over time, it was modified by the [[United States Constitution]], state constitutions, and federal and state court decisions particular to their own jurisdictions. Colonial land grants of the British kings still remained relevant in some later boundary disputes of the former [[Thirteen Colonies]], though adjudicated by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]. Some parts of the United States not subject to British rule have laws based on other traditions, such as French civil law in [[Louisiana]], and Native American law in [[Tribal sovereignty in the United States|areas of tribal sovereignty]].

Some countries were granted independence by an act of the UK parliament (for example, the [[Statute of Westminster 1931]]) and have likewise diverged from UK law either under or after British rule. An example at the other end of the spectrum, despite occasional control for geopolitical reasons, British law had little impact on the [[law of Afghanistan]].