Following a 26 year gap, as of December 7, 2020, a consolidated and revised version of all the Laws of the Commonwealth of Dominica from 1990 to January 2017, will be made available to the public.
Considering the amount of time that has passed since the last revision which was completed in 1990, the cabinet, in 2015, established a law commission office to work on a general law revision.
Like any general law revision, the ultimate objective of the 2017 revised edition is to facilitate the administration of justice, the enforcement of law and order, and the management of the public and private sector.
“The new revised edition will enhance the rules and will facilitate the administration of Justice generally, the enforcement of law and order, and the management of the public and private sector,” Head of the Law Revision Commission Ray Harris said a recently held Ministry of Justice press briefing.
He said that whenever the written laws of a country have become “untidy and inaccessible,” not only for the average citizens but for lawyers and judges as a result of years of amendments dedicated by the exigencies of administration, there is a need for a general law revision.
The reparation of this revised edition like most general law revisions has been met with difficulties, Harris noted. He stated however, that despite the setbacks, the law commission office managed to complete the 2017 revised edition.
Harris indicated that the current pandemic has affected the speed at which the commission would have liked to have received the copies and the speed in which the 2017 revised edition could have been brought into operations, but vows that they will be available to the public by December 7, 2020.
In order for the 2017 revised edition to be formally approved and entered into the statute book to be used in a law court, three laws have to be brought into operations. These include the Law Revision Inclusion of Authorized Pages Order 2019, the Law Revision Omitted Acts Order 2019 and the Law Revision Miscellaneous Amendments Act 2020.
Harris said the three relevant commencement date orders have already been prepared and will be gazetted when the Cabinet of Dominica decides on the appropriate date to bring the laws into operations. Thereafter, the law commission office will deal with the distribution and sale of the 2017 revised edition of the laws.
According to Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Rayburn Blackmoore, such consolidation of our laws will not only make it much easier for persons in the legal fraternities but all Dominicans who want to have an understanding of how to be a law-abiding citizen.
Blackmoore stated that he has already signed the orders to ensure that exercise gets into operations and pointed out that another important aspect of our law that his ministry will be reviewing is law reform.
“Our laws have to evolve and must be consistent with the cultural realities of our people and our society,” he said. “So there are several pieces of laws that are old and need to be reformed.”
He said the government will be reforming the physical planning legislation, as well as to review the bail bill as at present, there is no legislation which deals with how bail should be granted.
“We believe that there are certain crimes committed because there is consensus among the society that murder, kidnapping, sexual connection with a minor, these are serious crimes. More specifically, when someone has committed their first murder and in some instances, that person is bailed and while on bail he or she commits a second murder, that cannot be right,” Blackmoore contends. “So what this intended legislation will seek to do is make it more difficult for bail to be granted when a person is charged for certain categories of crime which are deemed serious crimes.”
The law commission office has also been working on a three-year first law revision supplement to bring the laws up to 2020.
Congratulations Ray!!Like your uncle before you have rendered great meritorious service to the Commonwealth of Dominica
……if he is sufficiently well poised and mannered to comprehend it politically and demonstrated.
No matter what is and has submitted to Failed incompetent Skerrit over the past 20 long years is not going to make s difference in the future.
Skerrit we know is Prime Minister material let alone to comprehend the functions and language of this document.
What is going to happen after Skerrit reads this document and not able to comprehend it let alone able to read and implement it within the laws and regulations of our government.
Skerrit has reduced his knowledge to fake politics, appease people to align to him to shout Nonsensical thoughts of “We love our pm”, who has failed our suffering jobless people and country.
We desperately need change and disciplined leadership and Decent management in our Government and our Dominica that we as tax payers will need to know how our funds/money has been managed and invested in the interest of our struggling people.
Skerrit get the hell…
Revising the laws are great but why should the people follow them when the ….. Minister says no law no Constitution will stop him from doing what he wants
I trust a copy will be delivered to the PM!
When they say “made available to the public”, I hope this means that an official, definitive edition will be freely available online. If the citizenry is supposed to abide by the law, it’s only fair for them to have ready access to it without charge.
Thank you Mr. Harris on revising our laws once more.
Hello and good afternoon my people. First, how can you revised the laws but you don’t revised the bail act which is how so many criminals are getting out on bail for very serious crimes. They then comit another Murder, Assault or Rape. The second issue is ,will video evidence be allowed in court. I received an alert on my phone showing someone burglarizing my parents home. I sent the video to my cousin who went to the Police station and they told him no one saw the perpetrator comit the crime because they can’t used video as evidence. My country still in the stone ages so please reform the Rules of Evidence within the Criminal Prosedure Law.
ADMIN: The paragraph before the last line speaks to reforming the Bail Bill.
One of the shortcomings of our current Constitution, despite ascribing rights to us citizens such as the right to life, to privacy, etc., doesn’t guarantee the right to work.
Will these revisions give us that right?
Cause it seems to me that without the right to work, all the others are incapable of being enjoyed to the fullest.
Or does this revision not at all related to my concern?
Thanks for the enlightenment.
HOTEP!
To the powers that be, this will make little difference, as Skerritt will continue to disregard the provisions of the law and do whatever he wants. Examples, he issues contracts to whoever he wants without going through the required tender process and the money belonging to the country should go to the treasury yet Skerritt doesn’t do that, no wonder $1.2 billion dollars was not accounted for until the leader of the opposition pointed it out. When there is a full fledged dictatorship or a developing one this revision of the laws sounds like an exercise in futility, except for the common people who strive to live as good and honest citizens in their everyday lives. The enablers of the status quo, will continue to ride rough shod over the masses until we are “all” truly equal before the law.