Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Re: commonwealth vs. state

There is no legal nor constitutionally significant difference between the two terms. Commonwealth is

a term that gain popularity in mid 17th Century

England during the time of Cromwell and emphasized

the legitimacy of governmental rule as derived from the common consent of the people rather than from royal charters derived from the King of England.

Later on American colonies such as Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia which had been developing their respective forms of colonial government for more than a 100 years or so after the Cromwell interregnum had ended, adopted the term Commonwealth to describe their respective governmental entities when it came time for them to join with the other 10 colonies to form the United States of America.