Rights
1966 Constitution, a republic since 2021, with the CCJ as final court
The Constitution of 1966 remains in force, but Barbados became a parliamentary republic on 30 November 2021 through the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021, replacing the monarch with a President as head of state. Barbados was also the first state to accept the appellate jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice, in 2005, so appeals no longer go to London. A Constitutional Reform Commission has been working on a wholly new constitution.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Unitary republic; CCJ is the final appellate court
- Deadline — Constitutional motion: filed in the High Court, with no fixed limitation period
- Deadline — Appeal to the CCJ: application for leave within the time set by the Court of Appeal order
Governing law
- Constitution of Barbados 1966
- Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021
- Caribbean Court of Justice Act 2003
- Supreme Court of Judicature Act
In practice
The 2021 transition was deliberately narrow: it changed the head of state and related offices but left the structure of government, the courts and the rights provisions intact, so pre-2021 constitutional case law continues to apply. Accepting the CCJ's appellate jurisdiction has had a more visible doctrinal effect, because the Court has been willing to depart from Privy Council authority where it considers the regional context differs.