After two crucial pieces of legislation were enacted in parliament yesterday, the Nevis Island Administration now has the right to sue and be sued in its position as an instrument of the Crown.
The Crown Proceedings (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Nevis Island Administration (Civil Proceedings) Bill, 2023 were passed with the support of 12 of the 15 Members of Parliament.
Prior to the voting, Garth Wilkin, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, told MPs that the Nevis Island Administration (Civil Proceedings) Bill fills a legal need in the country.
“Chief Justice Pereira issued a judgment concluding that, quote, ‘the NIA has no legal standing to sue and be sued in civil proceedings given the applicability of the Crown Proceedings Act to Nevis,” he explained. “Madame Speaker, this Bill, therefore, seeks to directly fill the legal gap identified by the Learned Chief Justice, nothing more, nothing less.”
The Attorney General stated that the Bill “does not change the Constitution” and is a “simple change to the Crown Proceedings framework, to clarify…that the NIA, as an organ of the Crown, can sue and be sued with respect to matters within Nevis’ exclusive domain.”
The court order, according to Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis and Opposition Leader, forced Nevis to obtain permission from the central government in Basseterre to deal with specific legal concerns.
“I am convinced that the Court did not consider the implications of what it was saying, and in essentially overturning decades of authority, it did not consider well what this means for the day-to-day functioning of the Nevis Island Administration, and what it means for the Federal Government and the Attorney General…”This legislation is really seeking to correct the mischief that has now been created in terms of the practical and legal implications of this judgment, and to restore us to what we were prior to the judgment of August 17, 2022,” Brantley said.
“So, prior to August 17, 2022, we had a well-established, well-known, and well-respected approach to these matters, and this legislation seeks to reset, to return us to what was, and what has always been accepted.”
He went on to say that the law “brings comfort to all those who have dealings with the Nevis Island Administration, that if for some reason things were to go awry, that the fundamental power and authority to sue and be sued has now been preserved.”
Both legislation have now been forwarded to the Governor-General for her signature.
