Attorney General's Chambers

Overview of the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC)

The Attorney General’s Chambers is headed by the Attorney General. The Attorney General is the principal legal adviser to the Government of Montserrat and is therefore responsible for providing legal advice to the Government of Montserrat. For this reason, the Attorney General cannot render legal advice to anyone other than the Government of Montserrat and its satellites.

The Attorney General is an ex officio member of the Cabinet and the Legislative Assembly and attends meetings of the Cabinet and the Legislative Assembly. Further, when the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is vacant, the Attorney General also performs the functions of that office.

The functions of Civil and Commercial Unit and the Legislative Drafting Unit are carried out under the supervision of the Attorney General.

Legislative Drafting Unit

The Legislative Drafting Unit is generally responsible for translating the policies of the Government and statutory bodies into clear and effective legislation.  In particular, the functions of the Legislative Drafting Unit include:
  1.   drafting Legislation, including Acts, Regulations, Rules, Orders, Proclamations and preparing other legal documents of a general nature as required by the Government of Montserrat.
  2.   advising the Government of Montserrat on statutory interpretation, constitutional and administrative law issues, proposed legislation, law reform and the legal implications of treaties and conventions;
  3.   representing the Government of Montserrat locally, regionally and internationally in matters involving draft legislation, constitutional and other civil issues;
  4.   addressing issues raised by members Legislative Assembly and preparing Committee Stage amendments to draft bills on the floor of the Legislative Assembly; and
  5.   representing the Government in international initiatives which have an impact on domestic law, such as: the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and the Exchange of information for Tax Purposes.

Civil and Commercial Unit

The Civil and Commercial Unit is generally responsible for providing legal advice to the Government of Montserrat as well as representing the Government in civil litigation. The Civil and Commercial Unit also drafts agreements to be entered into on behalf of the Government. The functions of the Civil and Commercial Unit also include:
  1. processing and handling requests for assistance with Mutual Legal Assistance;
  2. representing the Government in court proceedings instituted by or against the Government;
  3. representing the Government in negotiations and dispute resolution hearings; and
  4. drafting, vetting and enforcing contracts and legal documents.

AGC News

Contact Details

Attorney General’s Chambers, P.O Box 129, Valley View, Brades,
Montserrat
Tel: (1) 664-491-4686/5180
Fax: (1) 664-491-4687
Email: legalmail@gov.ms

Attorney General

Hon. Sheree Jemmotte-Rodney

Legal Document Descriptions

The Acts are primary pieces of legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly. Periodically, the Acts in force in Montserrat are subjected to a law revision. Law revision is a process by which the entire Statute Book of Montserrat is revised and consolidated up to a particular date, known as the cut-off date. No changes are made to the substance of the laws; the laws are merely reproduced to enable convenient access to all the laws as at the cut-off date. The last cut-off date was 1st January 2019. Therefore the authoritative version of the laws of Montserrat passed up to 1st January 2019 is the ‘Revised Edition of the Laws, showing the laws as at 1st January 2019’.  Any law passed after 1st January 2019 is not incorporated in the ‘Revised Edition of the Laws showing the laws as at 1st January 2019’.

Statutory Rules and Orders are subsidiary legislation made by an authority that is subordinate to the Legislative Assembly. An Act of the Legislative Assembly generally grants to the authority the power to make subsidiary legislation. Statutory Rules and Orders include Regulations, Rules, Orders, Resolutions and Proclamations.

A Resolution is legal measure through which the Legislative Assembly exercises a specific power or a decision of the Legislative Assembly on an important matter.

United Kingdom Statutory Instruments are subsidiary legislation/instruments passed by the United Kingdom Parliament and expressly apply to Montserrat.

A full list of United Kingdom Statutory Instruments may be found here  www.legislation.gov.uk/

Omitted Laws are laws which are excluded from the Revised Edition of the Laws (see ‘Acts’ Tab) by the Law Revision Commissioner, in accordance with the broad powers under section 6(a) of the Revised Edition of the Laws Act to omit from the Revised Edition legislation that is inoperative, obsolete, expired, spent or has had its effect.

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