Indian Independence Act 1947

A British law that ended colonial rule in India and established India and Pakistan as independent dominions on 15 August 1947.

Dominion of India: The independent dominion established by the Indian Independence Act in August 1947, later becoming the Republic of India. The Act created this dominion from the territories assigned to India.
Cabinet Mission Plan: A 1946 British proposal for a united India with a weak central government and grouped provinces. Its failure to secure agreement preceded the decision to partition.
Indian Constitution: The supreme law of the Republic of India, adopted in 1949 and effective from 26 January 1950. It replaced the dominion’s interim constitutional framework.
Government of India Act 1935: A British statute that established provincial autonomy and a federal framework for British India, though its federation never took effect. It governed India before independence, while the 1947 Act ended British sovereignty.
Dominion of Pakistan: The independent dominion established by the Indian Independence Act in August 1947, comprising territories in the west and east of the subcontinent. The Act created this dominion from territories partitioned from British India.
Indian National Congress: A political organization founded in 1885 that became a leading force in India’s independence movement. Its negotiations with the British shaped the settlement enacted in 1947.
Constitution of Pakistan: The supreme law of Pakistan, first adopted in 1956 after years of constitutional development. The new dominion’s institutions developed under a separate constitutional process.
Lahore Resolution: A 1940 All-India Muslim League resolution calling for independent states in Muslim-majority regions of British India. It articulated the separatist demand that the Act ultimately accommodated through Pakistan.
Partition of India: The 1947 division of British India into the independent dominions of India and Pakistan, accompanied by mass migration and violence. The Act gave legal form to the division of British India.
All-India Muslim League: A political party founded in 1906 that campaigned for a separate Muslim homeland in British India. Its demand for Pakistan shaped the Act’s creation of two dominions.

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