Preface

• Author: Simeon C.R. McIntosh
• Profession: Professor Emeritus of Law at Howard University, Washington, DC
• Pages: 9-12

Preface

This is a work in constitutional theory. It is therefore not an

attempt at a historical or descriptive account of West Indian

Independence Constitutions, the existing constitutions of the

Commonwealth Caribbean. However, as a way of giving a proper

introduction to the work, it was absolutely essential that a brief

historical narrative of the constitutional development of the West

Indies, leading up to political independence, be constructed. But

given that I am not a professional historian and therefore not

having the expertise nor the opportunity to attempt a study of

primary sources, I have had to rely heavily on the work of histori-

ans and others in constructing an historical narrative of the con-

stitutional development of the Commonwealth Caribbean. For

this, I am truly grateful, and I hope I have shown my gratitude and

indebtedness in the extensive footnoting of their work.

In the main body of the work, particularly in the first chapter,

some of the central issues in constitutional reform are explored;

issues that, in the main, are matters of constitutional fundamen-

tals for the Commonwealth Caribbean: for example, the question

of the ‘patriation’ of the West Indian Independence Constitution and

of our continuing relationship with the British Sovereign. In addi-

tion, in the final chapter, the issue of the establishment of a

regional supreme court and the abolition of appeals to the British

Privy Council is addressed. These issues are, in my opinion, the

most critical and defining issues in constitutional reform, for they

go to the heart of a postcolonial Commonwealth Caribbean polit-

ical identity. For given the juridical origin of West Indian Inde-

pendence Constitutions as enactments of the British Imperial

~ ix ~

Introduction