Making and Changing Law in Small Jurisdictions [electronic resource] /
edited by Caroline Morris.
- 1st ed. 2024.
- VIII, 200 p. 1 illus. online resource.
- The World of Small States, 11 2627-6003 ; .
- The World of Small States, 11 .
1 Navigating Law-making and Law Reform in Small Jurisdictions -- Part I Case studies in law-making in small jurisdictions -- 2 A small state, a worldwide jurisdiction: Vatican City State and its legal system -- 3 Small states and constitutional reform: democracy in Malta -- 4 Drafting for effectiveness: Tuvalu's Climate Change Resilience Act 2019 -- Part II International influences and their impact on small jurisdictions -- 5 Mapping the UK's constitutional relationship with Britain's Overseas Territories in the human rights sphere -- 6 The Long Road to a Beneficial Ownership Regime in the Cayman Islands -- 7 Law Reform and Regulated Credit Reporting Systems in Commonwealth Small Island Developing States: a study of Jamaica -- Part III Global perspectives on law-making and law reform in small jurisdictions -- 8 The Challenges and Rewards of Law Drafting in Small States.
This book puts the spotlight on a different and neglected aspect of law drafting and reform: the question of size. Specifically, how does the size of a jurisdiction affect its ability to make and change its laws? Some of the challenges affecting small jurisdictions include: a lack of resources and paucity of policy/drafting capacity; the pressures and pull from sources outside the jurisdiction (e.g. international bodies or NGOs; larger states; treaty commitments); a vulnerability to domestic capture (e.g. criminal elements, big local businesses, strong domestic lobby groups); weak/bad governance (e.g. laws or institutions which themselves do not encourage or promote good governance, reflection and reform); the legacy of colonial legal systems and their interaction with indigenous or customary laws; and struggles to comply with constitutional norms such as accountability and transparency. Despite these difficulties small jurisdictions also have certain advantages when it comes to making and reforming law: they can be flexible and creative; they can legislate very quickly if the political will is there; and there is strong informal/formal accountability in a small jurisdiction. This edited collection explores law reform and law drafting in small jurisdictions through the themes of sovereignty; the impact of colonialism and legal plurality; the challenges of harmonising laws at regional and international levels; and constitutional reform. Of use to researchers and practitioners alike.