Introduction

• Pages: 41-42

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INTRODUCTION

I dealt in depth in Chapter I of the edition of this work published by Ocean Publications

Inc, Dobbs Ferry, New York, in 1985 with the manner in which the People’s Revolution of

1979 had affected the constitutional position of Grenada and with the initial arrangements

for bringing the country back to normality after the Governor General had found it

requisite on the basis of State necessity to intervene. In Chapter II, I considered the 1980

Republican Constitution of Guyana, outlining what had been achieved by that

Instrument which was heavily influenced by socialist ideas. Chapter III examined some

unique political events which affected the governance of Dominica, St Lucia, and (to a

lesser extent) St Vincent and the Grenadines. Chapter IV reviewed the Trinidad and

Tobago position while Chapter V was concerned with the rather unique union between St

Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla. Chapter VI dealt with Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados,

Jamaica and Belize. Chapter VII was a critique on the non-independent Caribbean

territories. Chapter VIII touched very briefly on the Judiciary, while Chapter IX

considered some important judgments of Caribbean courts in the field of human rights.

Chapter X succinctly reviewed the position of Governors and Governor-General in their

role of representatives of the Head of State (the Queen) and compared their situation with

the Presidents of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica (Heads of State in their

own right). Chapter XI provided an Epilogue.

I have felt a great sense of obligation to those lawyers and students who, having read

the first edition, have been kind enough to write to commend me for having produced it

and to suggest that I should now do a further edition, bringing it up to date. Many

students in our University’s Faculties of Law and Social Sciences, as well as in the United

Kingdom and North America, found the book helpful in writing papers for higher

degrees. Several legal practitioners who found the book useful in their professional work

have written to me to say so.

In this second edition which is entitled Commonwealth Caribbean Constitutional Law, I

have drastically changed the original format of the book.

Part I is written mainly for legal students and those who are being introduced to the

subject for the first time (for example, students of political science) but might well be read

by legal practitioners and law teachers who wish to refresh their memories. It covers such

broad themes as the sources of our constitutional law and the reception of English Law;

the Rule of Law; the Sovereignty of Parliament; the Separation of Powers; and the

Conventions of the Constitution. In this Part I also deal in some detail with a number of

recent decided cases affecting Bills of Right matters.

I have dealt in Part II with Guyana and St Kitts/Nevis as well as with Grenada, St

Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados,

Jamaica, Belize and Trinidad and Tobago. In Chapter 11, I have inserted a section on

another failed attempt at political union about which legal scholars have not yet written.

In Part III I have written a lengthy chapter on the Judiciary which at the beginning of

the 21st century is a subject of much interest to lawyers and others. I have also dealt with

the Public Service and with the type of Heads of State who should preside over our

jurisdictions. The final chapter provides a short Epilogue.

In the chapters dealing with Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St Lucia, St

Vincent, Dominica, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, I have

deliberately included full details of political developments affecting the operation of the