Making and Changing Law in Small Jurisdictions

This book puts the spotlight on a different and neglected aspect of law drafting and reform: the question of size. Specifically, how does the size of a jurisdiction affect its ability to make and change its laws?

Some of the challenges affecting small jurisdictions include: a lack of resources and paucity of policy/drafting capacity; the pressures and pull from sources outside the jurisdiction (e.g. international bodies or NGOs; larger states; treaty commitments); a vulnerability to domestic capture (e.g. criminal elements, big local businesses, strong domestic lobby groups); weak/bad governance (e.g. laws or institutions which themselves do not encourage or promote good governance, reflection and reform); the legacy of colonial legal systems and their interaction with indigenous or customary laws; and struggles to comply with constitutional norms such as accountability and transparency. Despite these difficulties small jurisdictions also have certain advantages when it comes to making and reforming law: they can be flexible and creative; they can legislate very quickly if the political will is there; and there is strong informal/formal accountability in a small jurisdiction.

This edited collection explores law reform and law drafting in small jurisdictions through the themes of sovereignty; the impact of colonialism and legal plurality; the challenges of harmonising laws at regional and international levels; and constitutional reform. Of use to researchers and practitioners alike.

Dr Caroline Morris is a Reader in Public Law and the Founder and Director of the Centre for Small States at QMUL, a new initiative dedicated to research and analysis of the legal issues facing the world's small states. She has pioneered the study of small states from a legal perspective and is recognised as a leading figure in the field. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the interdisciplinary journal Small States and Territories and a General Editor of the World of Small States series. She has acted as a consultant to the governments of the Channel Islands of Alderney, Jersey and Sark. Recent small states publications include: Small States in a Legal World (ed with Petra Butler: Springer Publishing, Berlin, 2017); “Antidefection Laws in Three Small South Pacific Parliaments: A Cautionary Tale” (2022) 20(3) I.CON: International Journal of Constitutional Law 1; “The Importance of Being Small” in P Schoukens et al (eds) Out of the Box (Owl Press, Ghent, 2022) 389; “The legal issues facing the world’s small states” (2021) 102(1) The Parliamentarian 52;“Beyond Westminster: Principles, Processes, Possibilities” in Venous Memari (ed) The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Bermuda Constitution: Reflections on its Past and Future (Centre for Justice, Hamilton, Bermuda, 2019); and “Attempting constitutional reform in the island microjurisdiction of Alderney” (2018) 47(2) Common Law World Review 105.