Privy Council can’t amend existing law

THE EDITOR: The attempt to remove the death penalty via appeal to the Privy Council after a commutation of the sentence of death has no foundation in law. The position of the Privy Council in the Constitution is neither imperium nor condominium nor compositus, as it has not been joined in a compact with the State to alter the Constitution for any purpose; and it is not given for the Privy Council to amend existing law.

The right to change the Constitution belongs solely to the State in the power of the Parliament according to the formulae given in the Constitution, ne plus ultra.

For example, attainder prevents convicted felons from gaining access to certain legal benefits. Giving felons standing for review of the Constitution, by joining issues not even pertinent to their incarceration, would not only change the Constitution, it would also be making law.

But the Privy Council not only has no mandate for that, it has no inherent jurisdiction to do it. It is beyond the power of the judicial committee in law to gain law-making powers having super-imposed the commutation of the death sentence.

It is the Privy Council that has brought itself to this embarrassing moment, not having rejected the application at the start, non possumus. Keep in mind, too, the rule in Pratt and Morgan can be suspended by the Privy Council should grounds for it arise.

E GALY

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