''Mitchell v DPP'' is a 1985

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 in which it was reaffirmed that a Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth state has the power to unilaterally abolish appeals to the JCPC. Following the 1979 coup by the New Jewel Movement, the People's Revolutionary Government (Grenada), People's Revolutionary Government in

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pet ...

(an independent Commonwealth member since 1974, previously an

Associated State An associated state is the minor partner in a formal, free relationship between a political territory (some dependent, most fully sovereign states) and a major party—usually a larger nation. The details of such free association are contain ...

) enacted a law which abolished all appeals to the Privy Council, a process set out in the Constitution of Grenada. Following the

U.S. invasion of Grenada The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military ...

and the overthrow of the revolutionary government, the

Parliament of Grenada The Parliament of Grenada is composed of the monarch and two chambers: Senate and the House of Representatives. It operates from the New Parliament Building in St. George's. Structure Parliament consists of the King, represented by the Gove ...

enacted a 1985 law which confirmed the 1979 act of abolition. Although the 1979 law may not have been constitutional (in that it purported to amend the constitution without enacting a law by a two-thirds parliamentary majority), the 1985 law was passed with a two-thirds majority and thus adhered to the procedure for amending the constitution. Thus, the JCPC held that appeals to it from Grenada had been legitimately abolished as of 21 February 1985. Since Mitchell and the 18 other appellants had filed their appeal in July 1985, the JCPC was not entitled to hear their appeals. In 1991, Grenada re-established appeals to the JCPC.

External links

''Mitchell v DPP''
bailii.org 1985 in United Kingdom case law 1985 in Grenada Judicial Committee of the Privy Council cases on appeal from Grenada Grenada–United Kingdom relations