1. Legal Research in the Caribbean
Junior S Browne
Faculty of Law Library, University of the West Indies
BIALL 2017

2. Overview The Commonwealth Caribbean as a Jurisdiction
Regional Groupings (CARICOM and OECS)
Overview of Caribbean Legal Systems
Researching Case Law
Researching Legislation
Researching secondary sources of law
The Future of Caribbean Legal Research
Conclusion

4. The Commonwealth Caribbean as a Jurisdiction
The Commonwealth Caribbean refers to some former British colonies and current dependencies in the Caribbean namely:- Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda The Bahamas Barbados Belize Bermuda Brit. Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Dominica Grenada Guyana Jamaica Montserrat St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Turks and Caicos Islands Trinidad and Tobago

5. The Commonwealth Caribbean as a Jurisdiction
Characteristics
Former British Colonies/current Dependent Territories
English as a common language
Members of the Commonwealth of Nations
Common law jurisdictions

6. The Commonwealth Caribbean as a Jurisdiction
Exceptions
St. Lucia law based on Code Quebecois to which English statute law has been added
Guyana land law based on the Roman-Dutch system

7. REGIONAL GROUPINGS - CARICOM
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was originally established 4 July with the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas in Trinidad & Tobago
Four main pillars: economic integration; foreign policy coordination;human and social development; and security
2001 Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas including the Establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME)
2005 Establishment of Caribbean Court of Justice
Currently a grouping of   twenty countries: fifteen Member States  and five  Associate Members & approximately sixteen million citizens
Community is multi-lingual; with English as the major language complemented by French and Dutch  and  variations of these, as well as African and Indian expressions

8. REGIONAL GROUPINGS - OECS
The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States is the inter- governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance between countries and dependencies in the Eastern Caribbean.
Established June 18th 1981, under the Treaty of Basseterre
The 1981 Treaty was replaced in 2010 with a Revised Treaty of Basseterre, creating an economic union, a single financial and economic space within which goods, people and capital move freely, monetary and fiscal policies are harmonized
The OECS is now a ten member grouping.

9. Overview of Caribbean Legal System
Written constitutions
Based on English common law
Doctrine of Stare Decisis - courts obliged to follow the decisions and rulings in previously decided cases, or precedents, where the facts and issues are substantially the same.
Decisions from courts outside the country are not binding, but may also be referred to as persuasive authority if there is no local case which has settled the point in issue

10. Overview of Caribbean Legal System
Caribbean Court of Justice is the final court for Barbados, Guyana, Belize and Dominica.
Privy Council remains the final court for all other Caribbean countries
The Caribbean Court of Justice interprets all matters relating to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas

11. Researching Legislation
All countries with the exception of Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and St. Kitts-Nevis have an online presence where the laws can be searched
Some sites are not searchable
Some sites are not current
Some sites only have current legislation while others only have revised editions. A few sites have both sets of information
Impossible to research the legislation for all jurisdictions in one place

12. Researching Legislation – WILIP Index
An alphabetical Index of all of the Laws of the individual countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean
Shows the legislation in force as at 31st December of previous year
Shows the references to the legislation
Notes amendments, repeals etc
Does not show full text
Does not rank according to subjects
The WILIP Index is one of the only sources of following legislative changes in some countries
Provides researchers with relatively recent information on the status of the law in their jurisdiction

13. Researching Case Law
Several Caribbean law reports series which include:
West Indian Reports Eastern Caribbean Law Reports
Barbados Law Reports OECS Law Reports
Bahamas Law Reports Jamaica Law Reports
Belize Law Reports Trinidad & Tobago Law Reports
Cayman Island Law Reports
Except for West Indian Reports, none of the Reporters are up to date
West Indian Reports are very selective
Heavy reliance on unreported decisions

14. Researching Case Law Most courts have unreported judgments online
Some sites are not searchable
Difficult to use court web sites alone to conduct research across jurisdictions

15. Researching Case Law - CARILAW
Faculty of Library, UWI as part of its mandate collected judgments from Caribbean courts
Classified and information placed on index cards
Computer based index produced using folio views
2001 received funding from USAID to move to full text online database. Launched in 2003
2014 received funding from government of Canada to bring the database up to date and to improve features

16. Researching Case Law - CARILAW
Given the poor state of law reporting in the Caribbean, CARILAW has become an authority for researchers. Decisions are no longer ‘lost’ as occurs in the standard law reports
Access to information is easier
Comparative analyses can be done
Easy to use and understand
carilaw.cavehill.uwi.edu

17. Researching Secondary Sources of Law
Legal Encyclopedias
None
Legal Newspapers
Legal Newsletters
- Some Law firms publish newsletters or articles commenting on legal developments e.g. Myers, Fletcher and Gordon (Jamaica)

18. Researching Secondary Sources of Law
Books
Commonwealth Caribbean Law Series
Faculty of Law Library, Online Catalogue
Journals
- Caribbean Law Review (Published infrequently by the Faculty of Law, UWI, Cave Hill Campus) - West Indian Law Journal (Published by the Council of Legal Education, Norman Manley Law School, Jamaica) Student Law Review (Published infrequently by the Law Society, Faculty of Law, UWI, Cave Hill Campus

19. Future Developments - Case Law
April 2017 – UWI and JUSTIS Agreement signed. CARILAW to be offered exclusively on JUSTIS platform.
UWI’s commitment to collection of material +
JUSTIS technology and administrative infrastructure =
World Class Database!!!!

20. Future Developments - Case Law
Researchers will be able to:
See treatment of cases (Is it still good law?)
Access cases cited
Access legislation cited
Search subject categories in a more refined way

21. Future Developments - Legislation
Digitisation of holdings of Commonwealth Caribbean legislation – dating from 1600’s to present
Creation of a searchable database
Currently awaiting approval for project funding

22. Future Developments - Secondary Material
Several books already available only in e-format
Collection of unpublished papers to be digitised
Collation of legal blogs and online commentaries in one space

23. Email: junior.browne@cavehill.uwi.edu
THANK YOU!!!