¶ 201
Overview
Purpose of the chapter. A Belize trust, limited liability company or foundation is only as strong as the courts that will be asked to apply the statute that created it. Chapter 1 introduced the courts and the regulator in outline (see supra ¶ 140). This chapter examines the legal system in the detail a planner or litigator needs: the Constitution and the rules for amending it, the reception of English law, the structure of the Senior Courts after the reforms of 2022, the Court of Appeal, the legacy of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Caribbean Court of Justice as the final court since June 1, 2010, the judiciary and the sources of reported law, and the civil procedure under which trust and entity disputes are now heard.
The shape of the system. Belize is a constitutional democracy with a written Constitution that is its supreme law. Belize Const. s. 2(1). Its private law is English common law and equity, received by statute and developed by local legislation and judicial decision. Its superior courts are the Senior Courts, which since 2022 consist of the Court of Appeal and the High Court of Justice, formerly the Supreme Court of Judicature. Belize Const. s. 94 (as amended by the Belize Constitution (Tenth Amendment) Act, 2022, No. 25 of 2022). Below them sit the magistrates' courts. Belize Const. s. 93A. Above them sits the Caribbean Court of Justice, which hears appeals from the Court of Appeal as of right, with leave, or with its own special leave. Belize Const. s. 104.
Why the system matters to the three statutes. Each of the protective statutes examined in this book directs a Belize court to do something, or to refuse to do something. Section 7 of the Trusts Act tells the court not to recognise certain foreign claims against a Belize trust (see infra ch. 11). Section 36 of the Limited Liability Companies Act gives the court exclusive jurisdiction over claims by a member's creditors (see infra ch. 17). The Foundations Act directs the court to disregard foreign law in specified matters (see infra ch. 21). The value of each direction depends on three features of the system: the independence of the judges who apply it, the hierarchy of courts whose decisions bind the trial judge, and the procedural tools that a trustee, a creditor or a beneficiary can use. This chapter describes each feature.
The record of the final court. Since 2010 the Caribbean Court of Justice has decided a series of Belize appeals that bear directly on the matters this book covers: the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards against the State, the limits of executive power over taxation, the injunction powers of the High Court, and the security of tenure of appellate judges. The decisions are examined at ¶ 260. They show a final court that writes long, reasoned judgments, applies the Constitution against the government of the day when the text requires it, and declines to do so when it does not. No decision of the Caribbean Court of Justice has yet construed section 7 of the Trusts Act.
Plan of the chapter. ¶ 210 examines the Constitution and its amendments, including the dispute over the basic structure doctrine. ¶ 220 examines the reception of English law. ¶ 230 describes the High Court and the magistrates' courts after the Senior Courts Act 2022. ¶ 240 describes the Court of Appeal. ¶ 250 considers the Privy Council and the authority of its decisions after 2010. ¶ 260 examines the Caribbean Court of Justice and its leading Belize decisions. ¶ 270 considers the judiciary, precedent and the sources of law. ¶ 280 outlines the Senior Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2025, the language of the courts and the profession. ¶ 290 draws the threads together for a trust or entity dispute.
Sources. The chapter relies on the text of the Constitution as consolidated to March 1, 2017, and on the text as amended through 2022 compiled by the Comparative Constitutions Project; on the commencement order for the Seventh Amendment Act; on the Senior Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2025 as published by the Judiciary; and on the judgments of the Caribbean Court of Justice as published by that Court. Provisions of the Senior Courts Act 2022 are cited from the text quoted in judgments of the High Court. Where a statement rests on official description because the statutory text was not available, the chapter says so.