Rights
1973 Constitution with entrenched rights and Privy Council appeals
The Constitution of 1973 established The Bahamas as an independent constitutional monarchy with a Westminster-style Parliament of a Senate and House of Assembly. Chapter III guarantees fundamental rights, enforceable by application to the Supreme Court. Amendments to entrenched provisions, including those on citizenship and the courts, require a referendum, which is why several attempted reforms have failed at the ballot rather than in Parliament.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Unitary archipelagic state; Supreme Court has constitutional jurisdiction
- Deadline — Constitutional motion: filed in the Supreme Court, with no fixed limitation period
- Deadline — Appeal to the Privy Council: leave sought within the period set by the Court of Appeal
Governing law
- Constitution of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas 1973
- Supreme Court Act
- Court of Appeal Act
In practice
The referendum requirement for entrenched provisions is the defining feature of Bahamian constitutional practice: proposals on gender equality in citizenship were put to referendum in 2002 and 2016 and rejected both times, so the discriminatory transmission rules remain in the text. That makes litigation, rather than amendment, the practical route for rights arguments in this area.