Mercy Litigation in the Commonwealth Caribbean

Abstract

Executive clemency in the Caribbean, more commonly referred to as the exercise of mercy, is a specie of the royal prerogative that has survived in all of the former British colonies. Constitutions across the Commonwealth Caribbean all codified the power of executive clemency, yet despite its inclusion as part of the written law it is referred to as the ‘Prerogative of Mercy’. In Hinds, the Caribbean locus classicus on this subject, the PC carefully insulated the judicial role of sentencing from executive interference. Framers of Caribbean constitutions clearly expected that by constitutionalising British mercy practice, they were providing a safeguard within the criminal justice system. The body established to provide advice on the exercise of mercy is called either an Advisory Committee/Council or Privy Council. A direct consequence of its exalted pedigree and its historically personal, discretionary nature is that the grant of mercy has traditionally been unaccountable, even unreviewable, by the courts.