Constitutional Travail in Guyana

• Pages: 141-155

CHAPTER 8

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

Guyana in a constitutional sense evolved typically from Dutch and British colonialism

through internal self-government to independence, first under a monarchical regime and

later under what has been termed ‘co-operative republicanism’. But it was not plain

sailing.

In so far as the colonial period is concerned, Guyana’s main original representative

institution was not, however, a House of Assembly patterned after the British House of

Commons as was the case, for example, in Jamaica and Trinidad. In this respect, the

situation differed fundamentally also from the Houses of Assembly set up elsewhere in

the Caribbean. The Guyana representative institution was sui generis having its origin in

the Dutch settlement of Essequibo, where the settlers from Holland established their first

colony in the early 17th century. Later the Dutch were to settle in Demerara and Berbice

as well.

In 1783, the British defeated the Dutch and took control of the settlements. However,

later in that year the French recaptured the colony from the British and handed it back to

the Dutch. The British were, however, once more to recapture it from the Dutch in 1796,

but lost it to them in 1802, only to retake it in 1803. In 1814, Britain at the end of the

Napoleonic Wars bought Guyana for £3 m and it was renamed British Guiana in 1831.

The governmental institutions were established to promote the aims and objectives of

the Dutch companies engaged in trade in Essequibo: the officers of these institutions

being essentially the servants of the companies. The governmental organisation traces its

origin as far back as 1621 with the formation of the Chartered West India Company by the

Dutch. Until 1690, the company was managed by a Commander and managers who

appointed a council with a secretary; and it was this council which subsequently became

a Court of Justice – thus, effectively combining judicial with administrative functions.

Later the governing body became the Court of Policy and Justice and this body

performed executive, legislative and judicial functions. Thus, what was a commercial

body became an effective instrument of governmental policy.1

In 1743, another body known as a Court of Keizers of Electors had been set up with

the sole object of selecting nominees from among the landed gentry for appointment to

the Court of Policy. Later, when the English and French took charge of the country in 1781

and 1782 respectively, the Court of Policy was re-organised by reducing the planters’

representatives thereon to three, as against five representing the company, and increasing

the head tax on slaves from 2 guilders to 6 guilders. After some disagreement on these

changes on the part of the planters, the Dutch Government dispatched a Commission

from Holland to look into the matter. The result of the Commission’s findings was the

setting up of a ‘Concept Plan of Redress’ which the English used as a basis for a new

141

CONSTITUTIONAL TRAVAIL IN GUYANA

1 See section entitled ‘The roots of the legal system’ in Shahabuddeen, 1973, pp 1–7.