CRIV BLOG

I recently became a member of the Caribbean Association of Law Libraries (CARALL) and I am enjoying collaborating with law librarians working in this region. In this post, I will highlight two important online resources and a forthcoming print resource that are available for in-depth Caribbean legal research. The first resource is the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) website. The CCJ is the court of last resort for several of the English-speaking Caribbean states. However, there are several countries in the region that still appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which is the court of final appeal for United Kingdom overseas territories and some Commonwealth countries. On the CCJ website, there is free access to current and decided cases, court documents, and the court schedule. The Caribbean Court of Justice: A Research Guide, which I created in 2008, provides additional details on the history of the CCJ, including its mandate and structure.

CARICOM – Caribbean Community is the other resource that provides a wealth of information on the 20 member states that formed this grouping in 1973, eventually creating a single market and economy. The CARICOM website provides access to the main treaties (the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which established CARICOM, and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which established the CARCICOM Single Market and Economy), community decisions, annual reports, and other useful publications.

The forthcoming print resource was the result of approximately two years of collaboration with my colleague and co-author, Yemisi Dina, chief law librarian at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University in Toronto, Canada. We worked on a manuscript entitled “Legal Research Methods for the English-Speaking Caribbean,” which delved into the Caribbean legal landscape, the available resources, and the legal vendors providing services in the region. Prior to our research, there were no available publications that addressed this topic. This resource has therefore filled a gap, and Carolina Academic Press will be publishing the work in January 2024.