Unit 1

Sources of Law

STRUCTURE
Overview
Learning Objectives
1.1 Common Law
1.2 Legislation
1.2.1 Legislation procedures
1.2.2 Subordinate/delegated legislation
1.2.3 The constitution
1.2.4 Statutory interpretation
1.3 International Treaties
Summary

OVERVIEW

In this unit, we will discuss the three major sources of law:

common law, legislation and international treaties. We will begin
the unit by defining common law. We will define common law as
“judge-made” law, since it is a body of rules created by judges.
We will also discuss equity then go on to discuss legislation and
international treaties as sources of law.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing this unit, you should be able to:

• define common law and explain the rationale for equity;

• discuss the processes involved in making legislation;
• discuss international treaties as a source of law.
Law, Governance, Economy and Society

1.1 COMMON LAW

One of the major sources of law in the legal systems of the

countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean is the c om m o n l a w.
But what do we mean by the common law?

Common law is a body of rules developed over time by judges in

the course of resolving disputes between private individuals or
between citizens and public authorities. For this reason, the
common law is also referred to as the jud ge- m ad e l a w.
Consider the following example, in this context:

An employer terminates the employment of an

employee in circumstances where there is no just cause
for so doing. The employee goes to the court of law,
complaining that she has suffered an injustice by being
deprived of her only source of income, arbitrarily, i.e.,
without any valid reason. The employer, however,
responds saying that he is the one who has invested
money in the business, it is he who absorbs the risk of
the business downturn and it is his property on which
the business is run, and the employee is permitted to
work every day. He, therefore, argues that the court
should recognise his right to employ who he chooses,
when he chooses, and to decide whom he should
permit to enter his premises.

In a situation like the one given above, a judge must look carefully
into the competing claims, determine what the justice of the case
requires, and, accordingly, develop a rule of law to govern the
situation. In this particular case, common law judges decided that:

• no one should make a claim to permanent employment;

• all contracts of employment could be terminated.

However, it is important to note, they also observed that in the

absence of any just cause, an employee should be given a
reasonable notice of termination (i.e., where the employment
contract does not provide for a specific period of notice) in order
to permit the employee some time to look for another job, and so
avoid any period of unemployment. The common law (judge-
made) rule, therefore, is that contracts of employment may be
terminated without just cause, but only after a period of notice, or
payment in lieu of that notice, is given.

2
 Unit 1: Sources of Law

Let us now examine another case here:

A police officer arrests someone, who she believes has

committed a crime, and takes him to a police station.
It turns out later that the person arrested is totally
innocent. The police officer has obviously made a
mistake. The victim now claims that he has been
deprived of his liberty without any justification. He
wants compensation for the infringement of his rights.
The officer says that while she now admits, in
hindsight, that she was wrong to make the arrest, she
honestly believed at the time of the arrest that a crime
had been committed and that the person who
committed the crime was the person she arrested. She
therefore argues that she should not be penalised for
simply doing her job and honestly attempting to
protect society from criminals. If she is ordered to pay
damages, she maintains, she would be very reluctant in
the future to arrest anyone, lest she finds herself at
the wrong end of a lawsuit once again.

Again, a judge has to decide between competing interests, i.e.,

the right not to have one's liberty interfered with, on the one
hand, and the public interest in the detection of crime and the
punishment of offenders, on the other. The common law rule
which judges have developed over time is that a police officer may
only arrest a person if the officer has reasonable ground to
suspect that that person has committed a crime. However,
honest belief is not enough. There must, in fact, exist objectively
verifiable circumstances which would lead a reasonable person to
suspect that the one arrested has committed a crime.

These are just two of the types of disputes which the courts have
been called upon to resolve over the years. There are, of course,
countless others which develop between people every day, in a
variety of circumstances and in all walks of life and most of which,
at times, have to be resolved by the courts. We cannot possibly
capture all the types of disputes here. However, the following list
should illustrate the point:

• Neighbours quarrelling over where the boundary line is situated

and whether one neighbour is trespassing on the other's land.
• Parents quarrelling over the custody of the children after a
marriage has broken down.
• Businesspersons contesting each other’s rights to market a
particular product with a particular brand name or alleging that
one is attempting to imitate the other's product.

3
Law, Governance, Economy and Society

• A consumer complaining that the items purchased from a

department store is of poor quality and making a demand for
the money back.

Common law judges have developed, in accordance with their own

sense of justice, rules of law for each type of dispute.

This body of rules, as we mentioned earlier, is what we refer to as

the common law, each rule being the product of an exercise
whereby the judge attempts, at his or her best, to balance
competing interests.

You can find this body of rules in the thousands of volumes of law
reports which contain the written judgments of common law
judges. Practically, every country in the common law world has its
own collection. It is, therefore, not easy for anyone to discover
from this huge volume of materials what the common law is on
any particular subject. Fortunately, however, there are many
academics who devote considerable periods of time to researching
these materials and summarising the law for easy consumption.
There are also now books available on a variety of aspects of law.
The proliferation of books, or materials, on law is such that no
lawyer or judge can claim to know what the law is on any subject,
without first engaging in some quick research.

Before we proceed any further, it is important for you to note that

the common law recognises legal rights only. What does this
mean? This means that though morally unfair, a party with no
legal rights has no recourse in the common law. The common law
is thus harsh and rigid. However, it offers a successful litigant
(i.e., the aggrieved party) monetary compensation. But then, as
you may be aware, practically speaking, a monetary compensation
may not always be the most appropriate remedy in a particular
situation. Now, what is to be done in situations of this nature?

Equity

It is to deal with situations of this nature, where monetary

compensation is not the most appropriate remedy, that eq uit y is
used. In other words, equity eases the harshness and rigidity of
the common law. How is this done? Equity eases the harshness
and rigidity of the common law by recognising and protecting the
rights for which the common law has no provisions. Let us make
this more clear with the help of an example. If X transfers the
legal ownership in property to Y, in order that Y pays the income
so earned to Z, the common law simply recognises that Y is the
owner of the property and ignores Y's obligation to Z. However,
equity recognises that Y is the owner of the property, as does the

4
 Unit 1: Sources of Law

common law. But it also insists, as a matter of justice and good

conscience, that Y must comply with X's direction and, therefore,
pay the income earned (through the property) to Z.

Now, if ever there is a conflict between the common law and

equity, which one do you expect would prevail upon the other? By
logic, it is equity that prevails upon the common law. Why should
this be so? This is so because equity is based on fairness, and has
been developed, as mentioned earlier, to remedy the rigidity of
the common law. In times of conflict, therefore, equity takes
precedence over the common law.

Having looked into the historical sources of law, i.e., the common
law and equity, let us now move on to study the legal sources of
law. But first, complete the activity given below.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.1

Give the meaning of the term the common law and explain how it
is different from equity.

Note:
a) Space is given below for your answer.
b) Check the answer with your tutor.

1.2 LEGISLATION

What does the term l egis lati o n mean?

The legislation of a country means that body of laws enacted by

its lawfully constituted, law making body. In the Commonwealth
Caribbean this law making body is the Parliament. In other words,
the authority to make law is vested in each country's Parliament,

5
Law, Governance, Economy and Society

usually comprising a lower house and an upper house. The lower

house, called the House of Representatives or Legislative
Assembly is constituted by the elected representatives of the
people. The upper house, called the Senate, is constituted by
persons appointed partly by the ruling party, partly by the party in
opposition, and partly by the President or Governor General, as the
case may be, acting in his or her own discretion. (Note that
Guyana and Dominica do not have upper houses.) You will study
this in detail in Unit 5.

Now, for the present, let us discuss the procedures involved in

enacting a legislation.

1.2.1 Legislation procedures

A proposal for legislation is often originally announced in public

through a Gr ee n Pap er . Note that a Green Paper contains ideas
about a particular subject, published by a government. The
purpose of a Green Paper is to allow people to discuss these ideas
before the government takes any decision. Once the comments
are gathered on the Green Paper, a W hit e Pa pe r is produced. A
White Paper reports the policy of the government on the subject
under consideration. In other words, a White Paper shapes the
government's policy in the form of a legislation. This is then put
forward in a draft form, called a Bill. A Bill is a document
containing the various provisions on which the members of
Parliament are asked to vote and bring into law. It usually
contains explanatory notes, setting out the rationale for its
various provisions.

The legislative process begins with introducing the Bill before the
Houses of Parliament, first in the lower house, and then,
subsequently, in the upper house. After debate, members of both
houses cast their votes. If it receives the requisite majority, the
Bill, with amendments if any, which may have been successfully
moved during debate, is then submitted to the Head of State
(President or Governor General), for his or her As s ent . Once the
Bill gets the Assent, the Bill becomes law, and is thereafter
referred to as an Act o f Par li am ent . Note that the passing of a
Bill (to become an Act of Parliament) is not so easy as it sounds.
There are quite a number of government procedures to be
followed. We will not, at this stage, go into the details of these.
But, we should know that it is a long drawn process.

Parliaments, however, have other transactions to conduct besides

passing of Bills. It is to save the time of Parliaments that
subo rdi nate or d ele gate d l e gi slat io ns are in place. We shall
discuss this next.

6
 Unit 1: Sources of Law

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.2

When does a Bill become an Act of Parliament?

Note:
a) Space is given below for your answer.
b) Check the answer with your tutor.

1.2.2 Subordinate/delegated legislation

To save parliamentary time, the main principles of an Act are

usually presented in numbered s ecti o ns. The other details are
presented as sc he d ule s at the end of the Act. This is to
facilitate debate on the sections. Though it does save the time to
a certain extent, there are other procedures, such as fixing the
commencement date to bring the Act into effect or getting a
technical input, etc., which make a considerable demand on
parliamentary time.

To circumvent these time exhausting procedures, Acts of

Parliament contain provisions which empower the Head of State,
Ministers or some other authority, to make regulations with a view
to effecting the purposes of the main or parent Act. These
regulations are referred to as subordinate or delegated legislation.
Let us explain this further.

A parent Act, for example, may provide for the payment of certain
benefits to an employee who is injured on the job, and may permit
an employee to make an application to the court of law when the
employer refuses to pay, or when there is a dispute over the
amount to be paid. Regulations made by a minister or any other
authority will then set out in detail the procedure which is to be
followed in order to gain access to the court and to prosecute the
employee's claim. Or, a Road Traffic Act may make general
provisions for the regulation of traffic and leave the designated
authority to flesh out the general purposes of the Act. Thus, a
Traffic Commissioner might, from time to time, identify
regulations such as which streets are to be one way streets, or

7
Law, Governance, Economy and Society

which intersections are to be regulated by traffic lights, or on

which side of a particular street parking is to be prohibited, etc.
Subordinate or delegated legislation, as it suggests, is subordinate
to Parliament. However, it has as much force of law as does the
parent Act.

One of the drawbacks of subordinate legislation, however, is that

it is not enacted by the constitutionally elected or appointed law
making authority. To that extent, it may be validly objected that
such legislation is not brought into being by a democratic process.
This is partly true. But we should weigh this against the benefits.
In other words, what is lost by way of democratic participation,
however, is gained by way of an efficient use of Parliamentary
time. It is not reasonable, for example, to expect that Parliament
be convened to decide whether a particular street should be one
way, or whether exposure to a particular chemical above a certain
concentration at the work-place should be prohibited, or whether
a particular form should be used in making an application for
planning permission, and so on. It is quite justifiable, therefore, to
assign the nitty-gritty of law making to the experts in the field,
leaving Parliament to decide upon broader issues of policy.

However, on occasions, Parliaments do demonstrate their control

over delegated or subordinate legislation. Thus, the parent Act
may provide that in order to be effective, subordinate legislation
must be subject to a negative or a positive resolution of
Parliament. That is:

• Where the negative resolution procedure is applicable, the

particular subordinate legislation in question becomes law only
after having been placed in Parliament for a specified period.
(In other words, it does not become a law during that period,
being subject to a negative vote.)
• Subordinate legislation, which must survive the positive
resolution procedure, becomes law only if Parliament votes
positively to making it law.

Very often, nevertheless, absolute legislative-making power may

be vested in the subordinate authority without the need to refer
to Parliament for either a negative or a positive resolution. When
such authority is vested in the President or Minister or other
officers, questions concerning the separation of powers might
arise. We will discuss this issue later on in Subsection 1.2.3.

8
 Unit 1: Sources of Law

Common law and legislation

Like judge-made common law, legislation addresses practically

every area of human endeavour and conduct, from the regulation
of relationships between employers and employees, husbands and
wives, parents and children, shareholders and boards of directors
to the criminalisation of a variety of activities. Legislation also
addresses offences against persons and property, murder and
theft, to offences against the State, such as treason or sedition.
In many cases, legislation addresses situations which may not yet
have been covered by the common law, and in many other cases,
legislation may effect changes in the common law. Where this
happens, legislation takes precedence over the common law such
that discovering the law on any particular subject would involve an
examination of both statute law, i.e., legislation, and the common
law.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.3

State the main reason for the provision of delegated legislation.

Note:
a) Space is given below for your answer.
b) Check the answer with your tutor.

1.2.3 The constitution

The most important legislation of any country in the

Commonwealth Caribbean is the C o nstit utio n. The Constitution
of a country declares itself to be the supreme law of the land.
Any other law which might be inconsistent with the Constitution is
null and void, to the extent of that inconsistency. Part of the
work which our judges are involved in is to determine whether laws
passed by Parliament have run contrary to any constitutional
provisions, and if so, to strike down such legislation. But the
importance of the Constitutions does not lie merely in its
supremacy over all other laws, but more significantly in its
content. Let us explain this further.

9
Law, Governance, Economy and Society

Each Constitution in the Commonwealth Caribbean contains a Bill

of Ri ght s . The Bill of Rights sets out the fundamental rights and
freedoms to be enjoyed by everyone and which neither Parliament
nor any other state authority, including the police, is permitted to
violate. Included among the rights and freedoms are the right to
life, liberty and property; the right to associate freely, and to
freely hold and express opinions; the freedom of press and
freedom of religion. In short, the Bill of Rights establishes the
basic principles upon which our democracy is based. It stands as a
bulwark against tyranny and totalitarianism.

The Constitution is also important because it establishes and

regulates the various social institutions which make up the
democratic system. Thus, the Constitution spells out, among
others:

• rules governing entry into the upper and lower houses by way
of either appointment or election;
• the power which Parliaments possesses to make laws, including
laws which might amend the Constitution;
• the procedure which must be followed to enact such laws.
(For example, generally speaking, in order to validly pass a law
which is inconsistent with the Constitution, Parliament is
usually required to obtain a special majority, sometimes two-
thirds, other times three-quarters, of the members of the
houses, and in some cases, the legislation must be approved in
a referendum. Where a law is consistent with the Constitution,
and is not passed in accordance with the prescribed procedure,
it is liable to be struck down by the courts of law.)

Moreover, the Constitution also does the following:

• establishes the Supreme Court.

• identifies the persons who have the authority to appoint
judges.
• prescribes the qualifications for such appointments.
• addresses issues such as the remuneration which judges are to
receive, and the procedures to be followed in order to remove
a judge from office, etc.
• deals with the institution of the President or the Governor
General, including the powers of this highest institution in a
country. (One of the important powers exercised by the
President or the Governor General, is the appointment of a
Prime Minister after a general election.) The Head of State’s
power extends over a wider range of subjects, including the

10
 Unit 1: Sources of Law

exercise of the power of pardon, the appointment of judges on

the advice of a Judicial and Legal Service Commission, the
appointment of the members of that Commission, and so on.
• establishes a variety of Service Commissions which are vested
with the power of appointment and removal of public officers.
The establishment of these service commissions is designed to
ensure that public servants are insulated from undue pressure
and influence from the governments of the day and can,
therefore, serve any government independently and fearlessly.
Should governments possess the power to hire and fire public
servants, the danger is that a political party may create a
service that is loyal to that party. In the case of the police
service, for example, the absence of any insulation from
politicians might result in the development of a private army
answerable only to the executive which first manages to
establish measures of control. The existence of independent,
autonomous commissions is designed to forestall any such
eventuality.

1.2.4 Statutory interpretation

Acts of Parliament are usually expressed in general terms, i.e., in a

way that is easily understandable, making their intended
application to day-to-day situations readily discernible. However,
there may be instances where the precise intention of Parliament
may not be clearly expressed. Or, even where the language is
clear, the application of the law to circumstances may not be
clear, as those circumstances might not have been anticipated
when the Act was passed. For example, a Finance Act may
impose a new tax on a particular category of transactions.
However, it may not expressly impose a tax of a specified amount
on a particular transaction for a particular person.

If a dispute arises as to whether, or how, a legislation or Statute

(Act of Parliament) applies to particular acts or events, the courts
of law must interpret the Statute and decide whether or not it
applies to a given case. Nevertheless, since legislation takes
precedence over judge-made laws, judges are duty bound to give
full effect to the will of Parliament, irrespective of whether they
agree with the particular rule of law they are required to enforce.
In other words, it is Parliament's right to make law; and the judges
are duty-bound to follow it. But while this proposition is simple to
state, it is difficult to apply where Parliament's intention is not
precisely expressed.

11
Law, Governance, Economy and Society

Rules of statutory interpretation

Over time, in order to keep faith with their mandate to uphold the
will of Parliament, judges have developed rules of statutory
interpretation to assist them in their task. The rules of statutory
interpretation include:

• Literal Rule: This rule dictates that the language of a statute

must be given its ordinary and natural meaning, irrespective of
whether it sounds absurd or unjust.
• Golden Rule: Faithful adherence to the Literal Rule will most
likely result in judges carrying out their overriding duty to
implement the intention of the law makers. The problem,
however, is that at times the language used, though clearly
expressed, is subject to more than one meaning, or applicable
to an unexpected concatenation of circumstances in more
than one way, or produces a result so absurd and impossible
to implement that it is natural to assume that Parliament
could not possibly have intended that result. To deal with
such situations, judges have developed other canons of
construction. One of them is referred to as the Golden Rule.
In applying this rule, it is presumed that Parliament does not
intend to produce an absurd or unjust result. Where there is
more than one meaning which can be ascribed to the words
used in the Act, therefore, a judge will discard that meaning
which produces the absurdity or injustice and adopt the other
meaning. (Sometimes, in order to avoid an absurd or
ineffective result, the court will read words into the Statute.)
• Mischief Rule: The application of this rule involves an
examination of the entire Act, in its context, in order to
identify the particular mischief the Act was designed to
eliminate, or the general policy which the Act was directed at
achieving. Once this is identified, a judge will attach to the
words used in the Act, that meaning which best promotes the
statutory purpose or best contributes to the elimination of the
mischief. The trick, of course, is for the courts to discover
with some accuracy the mischief intended to be rooted out or
the policy initially intended to be promoted. For this purpose,
apart from examining the Act as a whole, the judges will
examine any background documents which may have informed
the drafters of the legislation, and, in particular, the state of
the law as it existed at the time the legislation was being
considered. The judges will also consider any other material
which might assist in identifying the ways in removing the
perceived deficiency of the law under question.

12
 Unit 1: Sources of Law

Some of you may be wondering, why could not the judges simply
ask the legislators what their intention was, or consult the records
of the debates in Parliament when the Act was being considered in
order to determine what Parliament intended?

You are indeed correct. Yes, this may be one of the ways of
interpreting the Statutes when the judges are in doubt. However,
you should also note that in many cases the need for
interpretation might arise long after the actual legislators are
available to permit their intentions to be probed. And even if they
are available, there may be a temptation to so express the
legislator's intention as to be consistent with a policy which the
existing government wishes to pursue in the present, but was not
in contemplation when the Act was passed. And even if that
temptation can be resisted, there is no guarantee that each
legislator would have had the identical meaning in mind,
particularly where the fact situation to which the Act is now to be
applied was not present in the minds of the legislators at the time.

But what if the precise intention of the legislators on the question

under consideration is recorded in the debates, then why not
simply adopt that intention? The logic of this proposition has
recently found favour with the judges, and now they have
recourse to the record of the debates in Parliament. But, for this,
the following three conditions are to be satisfied:

(i) the language used in the statute must be ambiguous;

(ii) the record to be relied on must be the record of the speech
of the promoter of the Bill;
(iii) the intention must be expressed clearly in the record.

In case these conditions are not satisfied, the judges have to

resort to the more traditional and less perfect methods of
discovering the will of Parliament, which include the Rules we
discussed above.

In interpreting the fundamental human rights and freedoms

enshrined in the Constitution, an entirely different approach is
used by judges. In the Constitution, rights and freedoms are
expressed in very broad language, suggestive of an attempt to
express a general philosophy rather than to lay down detailed
rules. Accordingly, the normal rules of construction, more suited
to ordinary pieces of legislation are unsuitable, and are abandoned.
In other words, the fundamental rights and freedoms are to be
interpreted generously and liberally, thereby avoiding the austerity
of tabulated legislation.

13
Law, Governance, Economy and Society

Point to note

By dealing with the subject of statutory interpretation at this

stage, we do not intend to suggest that the interpretations which
judges give to Acts of Parliament are a separate source of law.
They clearly are not. But by the same token, in one's quest to
discover what the law is on any particular subject, or in relation to
any particular circumstance, it will be insufficient in any case
simply to examine the printed text of a Statute without having any
regard to the way in which the courts have interpreted it. After
all, it is the judiciary which is charged with the responsibility of
interpreting and applying the law. The expression of Parliament's
will in the text of the Act, and the way in which Parliament’s
intention has been interpreted by the judges go hand in hand, and
hence our discussion of statutory interpretation.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.4

List the rules of statutory interpretation.

Note:
a) Space is given below for your answer.
b) Check the answer with your tutor.

Let us look at the third source of law next – that is, international
treaties.

1.3 INTERNATIONAL TREATIES

Governments of the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean are

signatories to a number of i nte rnati o nal tr eati e s. Among the
most important treaties for the present purpose, are the:

(i) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

(ii) American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man;
(iii) Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination
Against Women.

14
 Unit 1: Sources of Law

The first two treaties mentioned above declare the existence of

the fundamental rights and freedoms, most of which are already
incorporated into the Constitutions. As its title suggests, the
third treaty declares the principles of equality between the sexes
and its signatories are mandated to take all necessary steps, not
limited to the enactment of law, to ensure the eradication of all
remaining vestiges of inequality between men and women.

Now, let us look at what a treaty is. A treaty is, in essence, an

agreement between/among the State parties who are signatories
that they will aspire towards the broad principles and objectives of
the instrument. But it is Parliament, and not the members of the
executive who sign a treaty, which is vested with exclusive law
making authority by the Constitutions of the countries of the
Commonwealth Caribbean. It follows that a treaty does not
become law in the country to which the individual signatories
belong merely by the fact that it is signed by a member of the
executive, even where the executive, as is often the case,
exercises great influence over the proceedings in Parliament. A
citizen cannot therefore seek to enforce treaty rights in domestic
courts of law, nor is he or she subject to any of the obligations
contained in a treaty. For the rights and obligations declared by a
treaty to have the force of law domestically, it must be
incorporated in the law by an Act of Parliament.

Nevertheless, treaties are not void of all influence on the domestic

law of State parties. Note the following in this context:

• In construing Acts of Parliament which are ambiguous and

might bear one of two meanings, a judge will adopt that
interpretation which is more consistent with a treaty obligation
and eschew that interpretation which is not. In so doing, the
courts act on the presumption that, in the absence of clear
words to that effect, Parliament would not intend to violate its
treaty obligations so solemnly entered into. Interpretation by
reference to treaty obligations and the ways in which
international human rights bodies have interpreted these
obligations, is of particular importance in the interpretation of
the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by our
Constitutions.
• In developing common law principles, judges will have regard to
treaty obligations, once again to ensure that the law is not
developed in a manner inconsistent with promises made to the
community of nations.

Apart from promising to adhere to the general principles and

objectives of the treaties, many countries in the Commonwealth
Caribbean have also signed instruments which give citizens access

15
Law, Governance, Economy and Society

to the Human Rights Commissions and Courts which administer

the treaties, although there is now a growing tendency to
withdraw from these procedures. Accordingly, citizens may
complain to these bodies that rights provided for in the treaties
have been violated by the local law-making or law-enforcement
authorities. The procedures are used primarily by death row
prisoners in the hope of obtaining a favourable determination by
the relevant international commission or court, with a view to
persuading the domestic authorities to exercise the power of
pardon in their favour. However, any recommendation or ruling
made by the international bodies is not binding in domestic law.
Nevertheless, it would be a violation of the fundamental right to
life to execute a prisoner while his or her application to an
international body is pending. To that extent, only access to the
international bodies is now incorporated into domestic law.

SUMMARY

In this unit, we discussed the following three major sources of law:

(i) Common law or judge-made law;

(ii) Legislation (i.e., laws that emanate from Parliament);

(iii) International treaties (i.e., State agreements).

 RECOMMENDED READING

Antoine, Rose-Marie Belle. Commonwealth Caribbean Law and

Legal Systems. Chapters 5, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 12. Cavendish,
1999.

16