BARBADOS / BELIZE – The Canadian Government-funded Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) Project is presently assisting the government of Belize with the revision of its subsidiary laws, which were last revised in 2003 and will now be brought up to date December 31, 2020. The Regional Law Revision Centre Inc. (the “Centre”), a non-profit incorporated in Anguilla, will undertake the revision on behalf of the IMPACT Justice Project and the government of Belize.
In requesting the assistance of IMPACT Justice in this exercise, Magali Young, SC, attorney general of Belize, mentioned that since these laws had not been revised in over 18 years, it was of critical importance that the exercise be undertaken in order to improve not only the efficiency of the legal system but also ensure certainty of the law for citizens, legal practitioners and even law enforcement.
The exercise being funded by the IMPACT Justice Project will include the revision of 101 pieces of subsidiary legislation. The project started in June 2022 and is expected to conclude by March 2023.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government-funded Improved access to justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) project has donated a number of key legal texts to the Magistrates’ Courts of Belize.
This donation is in response to one of the recommendations coming out of a ‘Situational Analysis of the Magistrates’ Courts of Belize’ which was commissioned by the IMPACT Justice Project in mid-2021 at the request of Hon. Magali Young, SC, attorney general of Belize.
The study, which was concluded in January 2022, was undertaken by consultants Justice Dennis Morrison, QC, president of the Court of Appeal of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Justice of Appeal of the Cayman Islands, former president of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica and former judge of the Belize Court of Appeal and Godfrey Smith, former Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, and currently a private practitioner in Belize.
In total, 88 books (8 per magistrate’s court) have been purchased on topics including the Interpretation of Contracts, Commonwealth Caribbean Criminal Practice and Procedure, Commonwealth Caribbean Property Law, Commonwealth Caribbean Tort Law, Commonwealth Caribbean Family Law, Commonwealth Caribbean Land Law, Criminal Evidence and Money Laundering.
The office of the chief justice of Belize will be accepting the law books on behalf of the magistracy.
