A British Overseas Territory is one of fourteen territories under the United Kingdom's sovereignty, but not as part of the United Kingdom itself.

Before 1981 the territories were known as colonies or Crown colonies. The British Overseas Territories are also referred to as overseas territories of the United Kingdom, UK overseas territories, or when the context is clear, simply the Overseas Territories.

The territories of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, though also under the sovereignty of the British Crown, have a slightly different constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom, and are consequently classed as Crown dependencies rather than Overseas Territories.
Territories and dependencies are distinct from the Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary association of former British colonies.

In a historical context, colonies should be distinguished from protectorates and protected states, which though under British control, were nominally independent states, whereas colonies were part of the British state. They should also not be confused with Dominions, which, known collectively as the Commonwealth, were independent states, held to be equal in sovereign status to the United Kingdom within the Empire and Commonwealth after the Statute of Westminster in 1931. Crown colonies, such as Hong Kong, were differentiated from other colonies in being administered directly by the Crown, without the degree of local autonomy found in self-governed colonies and other British overseas territories such as Bermuda.

Current Overseas Territories

Government

Head of State 

The head of state in the Overseas Territories is the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen's role in the territories is in her role as Queen of the United Kingdom, and not in right of each territory. The Queen appoints a representative in each territory to exercise her executive power.

Government 

All the Overseas Territories have their own system of government, and localised laws. The structure of the government appears to be closely correlated to the size and political development of the territory.

Legal system 

Each Overseas Territory has its own legal system independent of the United Kingdom. The legal system is generally based on English common law, with some distinctions for local circumstances. Each territory has its own Attorney General, and court system. For the smaller territories, the UK may appoint a UK-based lawyer or judge to work on legal cases. This is particularly important for cases involving serious crimes and where it is impossible to find a jury who will not know the defendant in a small population island.

Gallery of images

References

Related pages
 British Empire

Further reading 
 Harry Ritchie: The Last Pink Bits
 Simon Winchester: Outposts: Travel to the Remains of the British Empire (published in 1985 in the UK as Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire also in the US as The Sun Never Sets: Travels to the Remaining Outposts of the British Empire.)

Other websites 
 Foreign and Commonwealth Office- "UK Overseas Territories"
 The Commonwealth - UK government site
 Decolonisation - History links for the end of the European formal Empires, casahistoria.net
 UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum
 British Overseas Territories Act 2002- Text of the Act
 United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association
 Britlink - The British Overseas Territories