Trinidad and Tobago

Legal tradition

Trinidad and Tobago belongs to the common law tradition. English common law with a republican Westminster structure since 1976, when the monarch was replaced by a President elected by Parliament. The country is the seat of the Caribbean Court of Justice, which sits in Port of Spain, yet it has not adopted the CCJ's appellate jurisdiction and still appeals to the Privy Council. Section 13 of the Constitution allows Parliament to pass legislation inconsistent with rights by a three-fifths majority, a mechanism used for anti-crime measures and unusual in the region.

How power is divided

Unitary, with a statutory measure of internal self-government for Tobago through the Tobago House of Assembly under the Tobago House of Assembly Act 1996. Proposals to entrench Tobago autonomy in the Constitution have not yet been enacted.

Where law comes from

The Constitution

Supreme law, but subject to the section 6 savings clause and section 13 overrides.

Acts of Parliament

House of Representatives and Senate.

Received English common law and equity

Continued in force; developed by local courts.

Judicial precedent

Privy Council decisions bind all courts.

The legal profession

A fused profession of attorneys-at-law under the Legal Profession Act, though practitioners still describe themselves as practising at the bar or as instructing attorneys. Admission follows a law degree plus the Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School; the Law Association regulates discipline.