Boyce v R
{{Short description|Case which upheld death sentence for murder in Barbados}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox Court Case
| name = Boyce v R
| court = Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
| image =
| caption = Arms of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
| date decided = 7 July 2004
| full name = Lennox Ricardo Boyce and Jeffrey Joseph, Appellants v The Queen, Respondent
| citations = [2004] [http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/2004/32.html UKPC 32], [2005] 1 AC 400, [2004] 3 WLR 786
| judges =
| number of judges =
| prior actions = Court of Appeal of Barbados
| subsequent actions =
| opinions = Lord Hoffman
| transcripts =
| keywords = Capital punishment; inhuman or degrading punishment
}}
Boyce v R is a 2004 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) case which upheld the law that sets out a mandatory sentence of death for murder in Barbados.
Background
The JCPC held in some cases, the law that makes capital punishment mandatory for murder will violate the prohibition on "inhuman or degrading punishment" in the Constitution of Barbados.{{Cite journal |last=Cross |first=Jane E. |date=2014 |title=A Matter of Discretion: The De Facto Abolition of the Mandatory Death Penalty in Barbados ? A Study of the Boyce and Joseph Cases |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24375803 |journal=The University of Miami Inter-American Law Review |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=39–59 |issn=0884-1756}} (This principle is consistent with the 2002 JCPC cases of Hughes, Fox, and Reyes.) However, because (1) the Constitution of Barbados disallows itself to act to invalidate laws that existed prior to the enactment of the constitution, and (2) the law in question pre-dated the constitution, the mandatory death provisions of the law could not be invalidated and must be upheld.
In Matthew v S, which was released on the same day, the JCPC applied the same principles to a similar law in Trinidad and Tobago.{{Cite journal |date=January 2008 |orig-date=July 2004 |title=Matthew v. Trinidad and Tobago |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-law-reports/article/abs/matthew-v-trinidad-and-tobago/47D2DC8F4DBC9D2C1812BEEF4EC90C9B |journal=International Law Reports |language=en |volume=134 |pages=687–718 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781316152669.011 |issn=0309-0671 |via=Cambridge University Press}}
See also
Notes
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External links
- [http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/2004/32.html Boyce v R], bailii.org
- [https://iachr.lls.edu/cases/boyce-et-al-v-barbados Boyce et al. v. Barbados - Inter-American Court of Human Rights Project], Loyola Law School (Los Angeles) International and Comparative Law Review’s Inter-American Court of Human Rights Project database and journal.
Category:2004 in United Kingdom case law
Category:Death penalty case law
Category:Judicial Committee of the Privy Council cases on appeal from Barbados