The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Constitutions

by Albert, Richard; O'brien, Derek; Wheatle, Se-Shauna

• ISBN13: 9780198793045
• ISBN10: 0198793049
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2020-09-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Constitutions offers a detailed and analytical view of the constitutions of the Caribbean region, examining the constitutional development of its diverse countries. The Handbook explains the features of the region's constitutions and examines themes emerging from the Caribbean's experience with constitutional interpretation and reform.

Beginning with a Foreword from the former President of the Caribbean Court of Justice and an Introduction by the lead editor, Richard Albert, the remainder of the book is divided into four parts. Part I, 'Caribbean Constitutions in the World', highlights what is distinctive about the constitutions of the Caribbean. Part II covers the constitutions of the Caribbean in detail, offering a rich analysis of the constitutional history, design, controversies, and future challenges in each country or group of countries. Each chapter in this section addresses topics such as the impact of key historical and political events on the constitutional landscape for the jurisdiction, a systematic account of the interaction between the legislature and the executive, the civil service, the electoral system, and the independence of the judiciary.

Part III addresses fundamental rights debates and developments in the region, including the death penalty and socio-economic rights. Finally, Part IV features critical reflections on the challenges and prospects for the region, including the work of the Caribbean Court of Justice and the future of constitutional reform.

This is the first book of its kind, bringing together in a single volume a comprehensive review of the constitutional development of the entire Caribbean region, from the Bahamas in the north to Guyana and Suriname in South America, and all the islands in between. While written in English, the book embraces the linguistic and cultural diversity of the region, and covers the Anglophone Caribbean as well as the Spanish-, French-, and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries.

Author Biography

Richard Albert is the William Stamps Farish Professor in Law and Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. He has published more than one dozen books, including Constitutional Amendments: Making, Breaking, and Changing Constitutions. He has held visiting appointments at Yale University, the University of Toronto, the Externado University of Colombia, and the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel. Richard Albert holds law and political science degrees from Yale, Oxford and Harvard, and is a former law clerk to the Chief Justice of Canada.

Derek O'Brien is a Reader in Public Law at Oxford Brookes University. Following qualification as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales he has held lecturing positions in the United Kingdom, France, and the Caribbean. O'Brien has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on issues relating to Caribbean constitutional law and regional integration, and he is the author of a monograph, Constitutional Law Systems of the Commonwealth Caribbean. He has previously served on the editorial board of the Commonwealth Human Right Digest and is presently a member of the editorial boards of the Caribbean Law Review and the Cayman Islands Law Review.

Se-shauna Wheatle is an Associate Professor of Public Law at Durham Law School. She received her Bachelor of Laws at the University of the West Indies before attending the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar to read for the Bachelor of Civil Law and Doctor of Philosophy in Law. Her research interests include comparative constitutionalism, unwritten constitutional principles, Commonwealth Caribbean constitutional law, and UK public law. Her monograph, Principled Reasoning in Human Rights Adjudication, was shortlisted for the Society of Legal Scholars Birks Prize in 2018. She has also published articles in journals such as Public Law, the Journal of Comparative Law and the European Human Rights Law Review.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Bringing Caribbean Constitutionalisms to the World, Richard Albert
Part I: Caribbean Constitutions in the World
1. Constitutionalism and Colonial Legacies in the Caribbean, Lindsay Stirton and Martin Lodge
2. Constitutional Design in the Commonwealth Caribbean, Hamid Ghany
3. Constitutional Principles: Forging Caribbean Constitutionalism, Se-shauna Wheatle
4. Constitutional Unamendability in the Region, Yaniv Roznai
Part II: The Constitutions of the Caribbean
5. The Commonwealth Caribbean and the Westminster Model, Derek O'Brien
6. The Constitutional Law of Guyana: Challenges and Prospects, Jayson Haynes
7. The British Overseas Territories of Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos Islands - A Modern Approach to a Traditional Relationship, Susan Dickson
8. The Constitutions of the Dutch Caribbean: A Study of the Countries of Aruba, Cura?ao and Sint Maarten and the Public Entities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Sofia Ranchord?s, Irene Broekhuijse, and Ernst Maurits Henricus Hirsch Ballin
9. Suriname's Constitutional Limits, Ruben Gowricharn
10. The Constitutional Framework of the French Caribbean: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy, David Marrani and Sacha Sydoryk
11. The Normative Framework of the Cuban Constitution and the Problems it Poses, Julio C?sar Guanche, Julio Antonio Fern?ndez Estrada, and Bradley Hayes
12. Haiti's Constitution of 1987: How Does it Fare Today as the Country's Foundation for the Rule of Law?, Louis Aucoin
13. The Constitutions of the Dominican Republic: Between Aspirations and Realities, Leiv Marsteintredet
14. The Constitution of Puerto Rico, Joel Col?n-R?os
Part III: Fundamental Rights
15. Caribbean Constitutions and the Death Penalty, Margaret Burnham
16. Social and Economic Rights in the Caribbean, Westmin R.A. James
17. Rights and National Security, Yonique Campbell
Part IV: Forces and Institutions
18. The Appellate Jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Stephen Vasciannie
19. The Effect of the Original Jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice on Regional Integration and National Law, David Berry
20. The Interpretation of Commonwealth Caribbean Constitutions: Does Text Matter?, Derek O'Brien
21. Constitutional Dissonance and the Rule of Law in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Peter Clegg and Derek O'Brien
22. Black Power in the Caribbean, Rupert Lewis
23. The Vestiges of Colonial Constitutionalism, Jane E. Cross
24. Mapping the Future of Caribbean Constitutionalism, Cynthia Barrow-Giles