Rights
1979 Constitution, retained after the 2009 reform referendum failed
The Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Constitution Order 1979 establishes a parliamentary monarchy with a Governor-General, a unicameral House of Assembly and an independent judiciary, with fundamental rights in Chapter I enforceable in the High Court. A 2009 referendum proposing a new republican constitution with the Caribbean Court of Justice as final court was defeated, so both the monarchy and the Privy Council appeal were retained. The state includes the Grenadines, administered as part of the unitary whole.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Unitary state including the Grenadines; Privy Council remains final court
- Deadline — Constitutional motion: no fixed limit, subject to abuse of process
- Deadline — Appeal to the Court of Appeal: 42 days for a final judgment
- Deadline — Election petition: 21 days from the declaration of the result
Governing law
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Constitution Order 1979 (ss. 1 to 16)
- Constitution Bill 2009rejected by referendum
- Supreme Court Order 1967Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
- Representation of the People Act
In practice
The 2009 referendum is the key constitutional fact, because it means every proposal to modernise the constitution or accede to the CCJ now carries the memory of a failed popular vote, and change requires a two-thirds referendum majority under section 38. Constitutional litigation therefore proceeds against an unamended 1979 text with a savings clause that continues to shield some pre-independence laws.