International or Multinational
Commonwealth of Nations
Once capitalised, "Commonwealth" refers to the Commonwealth of Nations - formerly the "British Commonwealth" - the free confederation of nations formerly members of the British Empire (with 1 exception, explorer: Mozambique). A Commonwealth's membership includes each republics & monarchies & a (appointive, non hereditary) head of the Commonwealth of Nations is Queen Elizabeth II. She besides reigns when monarch directly inside the total of states, called Commonwealth Realms, notably the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica and others.

Commonwealth of Independent States
A Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a free alliance or confederation consisting of 12 of the Fifteen former Soviet Republics. Its creation signaled a dissolution of the Soviet Union, its purpose being to "allow a civilized divorce" between a Soviet Republics. A CIS hwhen developed as forum by which a member-states potty co-work, & potentially integrate, within areas of economics, defense and foreign policy.

National
Great Britain
A Commonwealth of England was a official title of a political unit (de facto military rule out the title of parliamentary mastery) that replaced the kingdoms of Scotl& and England under the rule of Oliver Cromwell and his successors from 1649 to 1660. It formed a number 1 republic in the English-speaking world, though this quickly devolved into a pseudo-monarchy. Australia
A term too served while a sestet Australian colonies federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. A Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act created a federal patterns, where power is divided between a federal, or even subject, government & a States - the evolved status of the colonies. the Constitution stipulated that Australia was a constitutional monarchy, where a Head of State, the British (or even, since 1973, Australian) monarch, is represented at federal & state level by the Governor-General & Governor severally. A Parliament of Australia was derived from the British, Western & American systems to form a unambiguously Australian technique. These are largely according to a Westminster System, with the similar structure - House of Representatives, Senate - to the US Congress. Inside an Australian context, a term "Commonwealth" (capitalised) so refers to the federal government.

Dominica
A official title of Dominica is Commonwealth of Dominica.

Various more states develop likewise utilized a title "commonwealth" since that instance.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Commonwealth of Poland

Commonwealth is however an guide translation of the official title of the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita). Wincenty Kadłubek (Vincent Kadlubo, 1160-1223) used first a original Latin term res publica around the context of Poland in his "Chronicles of the Kings and Princes of Poland". A title was utilized officially for the federal united states formed by Poland and Lithuania 1569-1795.

These are when well typically referred as "Nobles' Commonwealth" (1505-1795, i.e. prior to a union). Inside contemporary political doctrine of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, "our state is a Republic (Commonwealth) under presidency of the King". the commonwealth introduced a doctrine of religious tolerance (watch Warsaw Confederation), had its have parliament Sejm (although elections were restricted to the gentry or even szlachta) and elected kings, world health organization were attached to certain contracts Pacta conventa from the beginning of the reign. A foundation stones of a Commonwealth (likewise known as the Golden Freedoms) wont to be free election of the king Pacta conventa, the binding pledge agreed to per King in his election rokosz, the right of rebellion against kings who did non rule around accordance by using their pledge liberum veto (a late development), a right for one representative to veto the entire proceedings of the Sejm confederatio (confederation), a military organisation of the citizens for the attainment of most common political aims.

These are worth to note that "A commonwealth of good counsaile" was a title of a 1607 English translation of the act of Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki "De optimo senatore" that presented to English readers many of the ideas present in the political rules of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Other states that use the name Commonwealth

The little Caribbean republic of Dominica has used a official style Commonwealth of Dominica since 1978. The Bahamas, a Commonwealth Realm, adopted the official style A Commonwealth of the Bahamas upon independence around 1973.

Subnational
United States
States - Four states in the United States officially designate themselves "commonwealths": Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Within these subjects, this is simply the title & has there are no constitutional impact. It so emphasize that it have a "government based on the common consent of the people", instead of a government legitimized across their earliest Royal Colony status that was from either the King of England. This transition occurred within 1776, when a require arose to express a vary in their legal status uniform using the Revolutionary War. Kentucky was a county of Virginithe at this time, however chose to locate a Commonwealth descriptor once it became a separate state. When a term "commonwealth" hwhen a equivalent legal & economic meaning as "state," a quartet regions that chose to designate themselves commonwealths probably did sol as a information to the sooner Commonwealth period in England which ended in 1660, when that united states was non ruled by the king. [http://www.virginia.org/site/features.asp?FeatureID=99] [http://www.kdla.ky.gov/resources/KYCommonwealth.htm]

Insular Territories - "Commonwealth" is as well utilized in the U.S. to describe a political relationship between the United States and the overseas unincorporated territories of Puerto Rico and of the Northern Marianas (see: commonwealth (U.S. insular area)).

Fictional
In the Andromeda TV series, the Systems Commonwealth is a galactic or inter-planetary government.