Rights
1980 Constitution, common law, with the CCJ as final court
Guyana is a common-law jurisdiction and the only South American member of CARICOM's Caribbean Court of Justice in its appellate jurisdiction, having abolished appeals to the Privy Council in 1970. The 1980 Constitution is supreme and includes an entrenched bill of rights; constitutional claims go to the High Court and then the Court of Appeal and CCJ.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Unitary state; common law with the CCJ as final appellate court
- Deadline — Constitutional motion: no fixed limit, but delay may bar relief
- Deadline — Appeal to the CCJ: as provided by the CCJ Appellate Jurisdiction Rules
Governing law
- Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana Act 1980
- Caribbean Court of Justice Act
- Fundamental Rights (Practice and Procedure) Act 2010
In practice
Guyana's legal system is a hybrid: predominantly English common law after 1917, but with Roman-Dutch law surviving in parts of land law from the Dutch colonial period, which is why conveyancing uses transport and mortgage concepts unfamiliar elsewhere in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The CCJ has decided major Guyanese constitutional cases, including on the validity of a no-confidence motion in 2019 and presidential term limits.