''Matthew v S'' is a 2004

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Aug ...

(JCPC) case which upheld the law that sets out a mandatory sentence of death for murder in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. The JCPC held in some cases, the law that makes capital punishment mandatory for murder will violate the prohibition on "inhuman or degrading punishment" in the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago. (This principle is consistent with the 2002 JCPC cases of '' Hughes'', ''

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

'', and '' Reyes''.) However, because (1) the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago disallows itself to act to invalidate laws that existed prior to the enactment of the constitution, and (2) the law in question pre-dated the constitution, the mandatory death provisions of the law could not be invalidated and must be upheld. In '' Boyce v R'', which was released on the same day, the JCPC applied the same principles to a similar law in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

. ''Matthew'' overruled and declared as wrongly decided the November 2003 JCPC decision of '' Roodal v S'', which interpreted the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago as invalidating the law on mandatory capital punishment for murder.

External links

''Matthew v S''
bailii.org 2004 in case law 2004 in Trinidad and Tobago Death penalty case law Judicial Committee of the Privy Council cases on appeal from Trinidad and Tobago Prisoners sentenced to death by Trinidad and Tobago Murder in Trinidad and Tobago Human rights in Trinidad and Tobago