‘To propose that Great Britain should voluntarily give up all authority of her Colonies, and leave them to elect their own magistrates, to enact their own laws, and to make peace and war, as they might think proper, would be to propose such a measure as never was, and never will be, adopted by any nation in the World.’

Thus wrote Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations. Of course, political vistas are apt to change in two hundred years, but Adam Smith should have realized that and it does not excuse his rash dogmatism. My task now is to describe a nicely adjusted piece of legal machinery, which works overtime giving substance to political designs which for Adam Smith would have been fantasies.

More on the topic ‘To propose that Great Britain should voluntarily give up all authority of her Colonies, and leave them to elect their own magistrates, to enact their own laws, and to make peace and war, as they might think proper, would be to propose such a measure as never was, and never will be, adopted by any nation in the World.’: