| The constitution and laws of Barbados
Provisions to secure protection of law
18. 1. If any person is charged with a criminal offense, then, unless
the charge is withdrawn, the case shall be afforded a fair hearing within a
reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law.
2. Every person who is charged with a criminal offense -
a. shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved or has pleaded guilty;
b. shall be informed as soon as reasonably practicable, in a language that he
understands and in detail, of the nature of the offense charged;
c. shall be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his
defence;
d. shall be permitted to defend himself before the court in person or by a
legal representative of his own choice;
e. shall be afforded facilities to examine in person or by his legal
representative the witnesses called by the prosecution before the court and to
obtain the attendance and carry out the examination of witnesses to testify on
his behalf before the court on the same conditions as those applying to
witnesses called by the prosecution; and
f. shall be permitted to have without payment the assistance of an interpreter
if he cannot understand the language used at the trial of the charge.
and, except with his consent, the trial shall not take place in his absence
unless he so conducts himself as to render the proceedings in his presence
impracticable and the court has ordered the trial to proceed in his absence.
3. When a person is tried for any criminal offense, the accursed person or any
person authorized by him in that behalf shall, if he so requires and subject to
payment of such reasonable fee as may be prescribed by law, be given within a
reasonable time after judgment a copy for the use of the accused person of any
record of the proceedings made by or on behalf of the court.
4. No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offense on account of any
act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an
offense, and no penalty shall be imposed for any criminal offense that is more
severe in degree or nature than the most severe penalty that might have been
imposed for that offense at the time when it was committed.
5. No person who shows that he has been tried by a competent court for a
criminal offense and either convicted or acquitted shall again be tried for
that offense or for any other criminal offense, save upon the order of a
superior court in the course of appeal proceedings relating to the conviction
or acquittal.
6. No person shall be tried for a criminal offense if he shows that he has been
granted a pardon for that offense.
7. No person who is tried for a criminal offense shall be compelled to give
evidence at the trial.
8. Any court or other tribunal prescribed by law for the determination of the
existence or extent of any civil right or obligation shall be established by
law and shall be independent and impartial; and where proceedings for such a
determination are instituted by any person before such court or other tribunal,
the case shall be given a fair hearing within a reasonable time.
9. Except with the agreement of all the parties thereto, all proceedings of
every court and proceedings for the determination of the existence or extent of
any civil right or obligation before any other tribunal, including the
announcement of the decision of the court or other tribunal, shall be held in
public.
10. Nothing in subsection (9) shall prevent the court or other tribunal from
excluding from the proceedings persons other than the parties thereto and their
legal representatives to such extent as the court or other tribunal -
a. may by law be empowered so to do and may consider necessary or expedient in
circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice or in
interlocutory proceedings or in the interests of decency, public morality, the
welfare of persons under the age of eighteen years or the protection of the
private lives of persons concerned in the proceedings; or
b. may by law be empowered or required so to do in the interests of defence,
public safety or public order.
11. Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held
to be inconsistence with or in contravention of -
a. subsection (2)(a) to the extent that the law in question imposes upon any
person charged with a criminal offense the burden of proving particular
facts;
b: subsection (2)(e) to the extent that the law in question imposes conditions
that must be satisfied if witnesses called to testify on behalf of an accused
person are to be aid their expenses out of public funds; or
c. subsection (5) to the extent that the law in question authorizes a court to
try a member of a disciplined force for a criminal offense notwithstanding any
trial and conviction or acquittal of that member under the disciplinary law of
that force, so, however, that any court so trying such a member and convicting
him shall in sentencing him to any punishment, take into account any punishment
awarded him under that disciplinary law.
12. Nothing contained in subsection (2)(d) shall be construed as entitling a
person to legal representation at public expense.
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