The Crown And Constitutional Reform

The Crown and Constitutional Reform is an innovative, interdisciplinary exchange between experts in law, anthropology and politics about the Crown, constitutional monarchy and the potential for constitutional reform in Commonwealth common law countries. The constitutional foundation of many Commonwealth countries is the Crown, an icon of ultimate authority, at once familiar yet curiously enigmatic. Is it a conceptual placeholder for the state, a symbol of sovereignty or does its ambiguity make it a shapeshifter, a legal fiction that can be deployed as an expedient mask for executive power and convenient instrument for undermining democratic accountability? This volume offers a novel, interdisciplinary exchange: the contributors analyse how the Crown operates in the United Kingdom and the postcolonial settler societies of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In doing so, they examine fundamental theoretical questions about statehood, sovereignty, constitutionalism and postcolonial reconciliation. As Queen Elizabeth II’s long reign approaches its end, questions about the Crown’s future, its changing forms and meanings, the continuing value of constitutional monarchy and its potential for reform, gain fresh urgency. The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue of The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs.

Constitutional Amendment in Canada is the first volume to focus solely on the implications of the amending formula in Canada.

"The countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean are all self-governing, determining their own futures. But some 40 years after gaining independence from Britain, the question remains whether these countries are truly democratic and whether the parliamentary and electoral systems adopted, are well suited to the Caribbean experience. Meighoo and Jamadar answer these questions in the negative. A true democracy, they argue, is one where the Legislature has the authority and the strength to make the Executive effectively accountable and responsible to it and where the electoral system results in the true practical separation of the Legislature and the Executive. Using Trinidad and Tobago as the model, Democracy and Constitution Reform in Trinidad and Tobago offers an overview of the constitutional reform process in the Commonwealth Caribbean. In these young, postcolonial democracies, where party politics have had a negative impact on the process of democratic reform, the authors review the historical, political and cultural motivations that have spawned the most recent debates on constitutional reform; and more particularly on the proposals for parliamentary and electoral reform. The book concludes with a review of past proposals and recommendations, and puts forward the authors' own suggestions for reform. At a time when most of the Commonwealth Caribbean is undergoing a process of constitutional debate and change, this book makes a valuable contribution to the discussion and provides a basis for the informed citizen, student or pundit to judge the process of reform. "

"This is the first book to be written on Caribbean constitutional theory. In the continuing discourse and emergent project of constitutional reform in the Commonwealth Caribbean, it examines the origins of the Independence Constitutions across the Commonwealth Caribbean and traces the region's constitutional development from the time of the emancipation of slavery through to independence. At its core is the premise that constitutional reform must necessarily result in a redefining of West Indian political identity. The theme throughout the book is the fact that the written constitutions of the Caribbean all have their origin in the British Parliament and the unwritten English constitution that has evolved over centuries. The existing constitutions were all the result of the collaborative efforts of the region's political elite and British officials, with no participation from the West Indian people. The Crown is still claimed and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council remains the final appellate court. In the result, political independence has simply meant that the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean are independent subjects of the Crown rather than colonial subjects. The book begins with the process of 'lawful devolution of sovereignty' and the origins of the sovereign states of the Commonwealth Caribbean and proceeds to address the theoretical issues of founding and amendability as well as such pressing issues about the relationship between a prime minister and a head of state in a parliamentary republic and electoral reform. An entire chapter is devoted to the Bill of Rights and addresses the fundamental rights and freedoms preserved in Caribbean Bills of Rights as well as the controversial and paradoxical Savings Clauses, which in and of themselves might justify the rewriting of the fundamental rights provisions of Commonwealth Caribbean Constitutions. Caribbean Constitutional Reform offers a philosophical justification for the establishment of a Caribbean Supreme Court based on the idea of sovereignty and the right of a people to define themselves. This work makes the first definitive step to addressing these critical issues in Caribbean constitutional theory and sets the stage for a 'new constitutional discourse' shaped by a Caribbean court of final appeal. "

The Oxford Handbook of the Canadian Constitution provides an ideal first stop for Canadians and non-Canadians seeking a clear, concise, and authoritative account of Canadian constitutional law. The Handbook is divided into six parts: Constitutional History, Institutions and Constitutional Change, Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian Constitution, Federalism, Rights and Freedoms, and Constitutional Theory. Readers of this Handbook will discover some of the distinctive features of the Canadian constitution: for example, the importance of Indigenous peoples and legal systems, the long-standing presence of a French-speaking population, French civil law and Quebec, the British constitutional heritage, the choice of federalism, as well as the newer features, most notably the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section Thirty-Five regarding Aboriginal rights and treaties, and the procedures for constitutional amendment. The Handbook provides a remarkable resource for comparativists at a time when the Canadian constitution is a frequent topic of constitutional commentary. The Handbook offers a vital account of constitutional challenges and opportunities at the time of the 150th anniversary of Confederation.

A group of essays, many given at the annual Scarman seminar run by the Constitutional Reform Centre in 1987-88, and now published to coincide with the tercentenary of the Glorious Revolution and the Bill of Rights, re-examining the principles and practice of the constitution since 1688.