Atlantic Union

The Union of the Atlantic Territories, more commonly known as the Atlantic Union, is the historic predecessor to the present-day Federal Republic of Corraile. It came into being on 6 June 1957 with the unification of four previously separate British colonies: Corraile, State of Fairman Island, Territory of Stanraer Island and State of Colganston. The Atlantic Union, while being a single entity, consisted of several state governments under the centralised Union government in Highvale. The Union government coordinated state governance and served as the foreign representative of the territories to the United Nations and the British Commonwealth.

The Atlantic Union was founded as a dominion of the British Empire. It was governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, with the British monarch represented by a governor-general. The Union came to an end when the 1970 independence was enacted. On 21 August 1970 the nation became a republic, under the name of the "Republic of Corraile".

Constitution
With the creation of the Atlantic Union, a new constitution, the 1953 Constitution of the Atlantic Union, was adopted, replacing the direct rule established in the individual territories of the Atlantic Union that existed prior to [[w:World War II|World War II].

Main features
Like Canada and Australia, the Union was a federation, with state governments retained but coming under the immediate authority of the Central Government. A unicameral parliament was created, consisting of a Central House of Representatives, and its members were directly elected by the populations of individual states to represent each state in the House. During the course of the Union the franchise changed on several occasions often to suit the needs of the government of the day. Parliamentary Supremacy was entrenched and save for procedural safeguards the courts were unable to intervene in Parliament's decisions or policies.

Relationship to the Crown
The Union remained under the British Crown as a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, and was considered equal in status to the other Dominions. The Monarch was represented in the Atlantic Union by a Governor-General, while effective power was exercised by the Prime Minister (who was Head of Government). Bryan Harrison, formerly General of the British Corraile Army, was appointed first Prime Minister of the Union, heading a coalition of the Labour Party and the United Socialist Front. Prosecutions before courts were instituted in the name of the Crown and government officials served in the name of the Crown rather than the Union.

Final days and the creation of a Republic
Following a referendum on 6 May 1969, in which the majority of Corrailites (75%) voted in favour of a republic, the Union became the Republic of Corraile on 21 August 1970, joining the United Nations as an independent nation the following day. Subsequently the the Constitution of the Atlantic Union was replaced with the new Constitution of the Republic of Corraile, dissolving all state governments and consolidating all executive and legislative powers within the Central Government. The decision to transform from a Union to Republic was narrowly decided in the referendum held within Parliament, where 13 out of the 25 representative in the AU Central Parliament voting in favour of the creation of a Republic. Furthermore, a new flag, coat of arms and national symbols were adopted to replace colonial-era symbols.