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An Historical Perspective of Law Reporting in the English-Speaking Caribbean: A Case for Regional Law Reporting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2019

Extract

The doctrine of judicial precedent is the cornerstone of the English legal system. Therefore, the publication of law reports, through which the development of case law can be followed, is of vital importance. Today, over 350 years since the reception of the English legal system in some Caribbean territories, the law reports published in the region do not exceed 150 volumes, most of which have been issued during the twentieth century in the larger territories of Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. This dearth of primary legal materials has serious implications for legal education in the West Indies, and for the practice and development of a West Indian jurisprudence.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © International Association of Law Libraries. 1979 

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References

1 Dawson, John P., The Oracles of the Law (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Law School, 1968), p. 80. See also A First Book of English Law, 7th ed., by O. Hood Phillips. (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1977), passim.Google Scholar

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28 Ibid. Apart from such cases, those of headline interest in the newspapers are seldom of sufficient legal significance to justify reporting.Google Scholar

** Entries marked with “*” are held by the Law Library, University of West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados.Google Scholar