¶ 201
Overview
Scope. This chapter identifies the sources of the law that governs a Nevis trust, limited liability company or multiform foundation, and explains how each source is found, read and weighed. Chapter 1 described the constitutional settlement that gives the Nevis Island Legislature its power to make law and the process by which an Ordinance is passed, assented to and published (see supra ¶¶ 120, 130). This chapter takes the next step. It asks what the planner must read, in what order, and with what confidence, when advising on a question of Nevis law.
The layers. Nevis law is built in layers. At the top is the Constitution of Saint Christopher and Nevis, which is the supreme law of the Federation (see infra ¶ 210). Below it sit two legislatures: the federal Parliament, which makes Acts for the Federation as a whole, and the Nevis Island Legislature, which makes Ordinances for Nevis on the "specified matters" listed in Schedule 5 to the Constitution. Below both sit statutory rules and orders made by ministers and other authorities under powers delegated by an Act or Ordinance. Beneath and around the written law lies the unwritten law: the common law and the rules of equity received from England, together with the case law of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The financial-services Ordinances are written against that background, and many of their most important provisions exist to displace a rule of the received law: the rule against perpetuities, the Statute of Elizabeth, the rule that statutes in derogation of the common law are strictly construed.
Why the sources matter. A Nevis planning structure is often attacked, if at all, in a foreign court. The foreign judge, and the foreign expert witness who instructs the judge on Nevis law, must find the Nevis rule, satisfy themselves that it is the rule now in force, and decide how a Nevis court would read it. Each step can go wrong. The text consulted may be an outdated revised edition, a consultation draft that was never enacted, or a section renumbered since the last decision that cited it. A Nevis court's construction may be influenced by English or offshore authority that the foreign court has not considered. The planner who knows the sources can anticipate these errors and prepare the evidence that prevents them.
Plan of the chapter. The chapter proceeds as follows. ¶ 210 sets out the hierarchy of written law. ¶ 220 explains how the law in force before September 19, 1983 was carried forward into the new constitutional order. ¶ 230 examines the Interpretation Act, which supplies definitions and general rules of construction for all written law. ¶ 240 considers the reception of English common law, equity and statute, and the limits on that reception that the High Court identified in Wang Ruiyun v. Gem Global Yield Fund Ltd. ¶ 250 explains the Revised Editions and the rules that make a revised text authoritative. ¶ 260 discusses the statutory directions on construction contained in the financial-services Ordinances themselves, with a full discussion of SM Life Ventures LLC v. Morrice. ¶ 270 addresses precedent and persuasive authority, with a full discussion of In re Corona Trust. ¶ 280 considers the proper-law provisions through which the Ordinances define their own reach. ¶ 290 sets out a method for researching and citing Nevis law.
Terminology. In this chapter "the Constitution" means the Constitution of Saint Christopher and Nevis set out in Schedule 1 to the Saint Christopher and Nevis Constitution Order 1983. "The Order" means that Order. "Ordinance" means a law made by the Nevis Island Legislature; "Act" means a law made by the federal Parliament. "The trust Ordinance" is the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance, Cap. 7.03(N); "the LLC Ordinance" is the Nevis Limited Liability Company Ordinance, Cap. 7.04(N); "the corporation Ordinance" is the Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance, Cap. 7.01(N); and "the foundations Ordinance" is the Multiform Foundations Ordinance, Cap. 7.08(N). Each is cited to its most recent revised edition, with later amending Ordinances where a section has changed (see supra ¶ 130.03).