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Legal System of St. Lucia

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Legal System of St. Lucia

St. Lucia’s legal system is influenced by its French and English periods of colonization. After England and France ceased hostilities, St. Lucia became an English Colony, and all new law was English-based, grafted onto the prevailing French Civil Code (STEP, 2014). Therefore, the legal system is based on English common law and “Code Napoleon”. St. Lucia has an independent judiciary composed of low courts and a high court. The highest judicial body is the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. St. Lucia is governed by both common law and statute law. The low court is the district or magistrate’s court, above which is the Court of Summary Jurisdiction. According to Encyclopedia.com, “the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (known as the West Indies Associated States Supreme Court upon its founding in 1967, and as the Supreme Court of Grenada and the West Indies Associated States from 1974 until 1979) has jurisdiction in St. Lucia, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It consists of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. Appeals were carried to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and, ultimately to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London (STEP, 2014). On 9 June 2003, Caribbean leaders met in Kingston, Jamaica to ratify a treaty to establish the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Eight nations Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago officially approved the CCJ, although 14 nations were planning to use the court for appeals (Encyclopedia.com). Haiti had agreed to use the CCJ for resolution of trade disputes. Furthermore, the Coastal Zone Management Project discussed legal issues involving planning and environmental development that has led to overlaps and gaps in the system, which often create conflict and/or confusion over the precise jurisdiction of distinct agencies. They also pointed out that St. Lucia maintains a “dualist position” with respect to the link between national and international law, although being a party to a number of international agreements to be incorporated into national law to facilitate enforcement within in the legal system. However, many relevant international conventions are yet to be incorporated into national law.

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