Saint Lucia signs major law revision agreement

Contact: John Emmanuel

Wednesday, September 19, 2001  - The first stage of a comprehensive revision of the Laws of Saint Lucia got underway on Tuesday when Government signed an agreement with a London-based company, Eyre and Spottiswoode Limited.

Under the agreement for the 10 year project,  the company will produce an electronic database of all existing laws of Saint Lucia. It also, within three years,  will revise, proof,  print and publish the revised laws in accordance with certain agreed specifications. The company also will produce a maximum of seven annual editions of the Law Revision Supplement during the 10 year project.

“The revision of a country’s laws necessitates bringing together a variety of crucially important skills and knowledge and processes,” said Chairman of Eyre and Spottiswoode,  David Desborough.

He added: “The process will necessitate building and maintaining an accurate computerized database of the laws which currently extend to well over 20,000 pages of legislation. Capturing the text of the laws into an electronic data base for use on the Ministry’s computers for drafting and editing purposes requires great accuracy and the imposition of a number of quality control checks and procedures to achieve an accurate level of at least 99.995 per cent”

Attorney General Senator Petrus Compton said the revision is of cardinal importance to the administration of justice on the island. He said the agreement establishes the framework within which the needs of the justice sector, government and the general public can be realized for easily accessible laws.

“In a free and democratic society, the laws should be made readily accessible if they are to properly serve the needs of Parliament, the Courts, Judicial and Legal Officers in the Service, the Legal Profession and the general public and they must be available in an efficient manner,” he said.

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