The legal system in the Caribbean

The legal system in the Caribbean

The legal system in the Caribbean was born out from the colonial rule. The Commonwealth Caribbean is globally called the West Indies. The independent countries in the Caribbean commonwealth are politically connected with the name Caribbean community. The North American legal models are adopted in the legal system of the Caribbean islands. The current Caribbean legal system is the adoption of North American and European legal structure. Thus, there are differences in the legal process.

Constitutions of Jamaica, Grenada and Guyana are equipped with socialism and democratic socialism ideologies. However, countries like Trinidad and Tobago has a capitalist outlook. Apart from that, most of the Caribbean countries have universal law system. On the other hand, Lt Lucia has a hybrid law system because of Roman-Dutch colonial influence.

Most of the Caribbean nations have different laws for different religious customs like Hindu, Muslima and Christian. There are separate legislations for Indians in many of the Caribbean countries. Independent territories do not have any specific legislation, and legal process as all the nations are under the judicial supervision of the crown.