Rights
1962 Constitution with the 2011 Charter of Rights
Jamaica's Constitution came into force at independence in 1962 as a schedule to a UK Order in Council, and it remains the supreme law. The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms Act 2011 replaced the original Chapter III, widening the guaranteed rights and, importantly, making them enforceable against the state without the old savings-law shield in most cases. Jamaica remains a constitutional monarchy, and the Privy Council in London is still the final court of appeal.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Unitary state; Supreme Court has original constitutional jurisdiction
- Deadline — Constitutional claims: brought in the Supreme Court by fixed-date claim form, with no fixed limitation period
- Deadline — Privy Council: application for leave to appeal within 21 days of the Court of Appeal order
Governing law
- Jamaica (Constitution) Order in Council 1962
- Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Constitutional Amendment) Act 2011
- Judicature (Supreme Court) Act
In practice
The 2011 Charter matters in practice because it shifted the burden: the state must now justify a limit on a protected right as demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. A narrow savings clause was retained for certain pre-existing laws, which is why litigation over the death penalty and over colonial-era offences still turns on whether the impugned provision is shielded. Constitutional redress is sought in the Supreme Court, and its decisions run through the Court of Appeal to the Privy Council.