Guyana: IALS Library Guides

The Cooperative Republic of Guyana is located in northern South America bordering the North Atlantic Ocean. It is the third-smallest country in South America and shares land borders with Venezuela, Suriname and Brazil. Although located in South America, Guyana is a member of the Caribbean community, both culturally and via trade agreements, and serves as the headquarters for CARICOM. Guyana is also an associate member of MERCOSUR.

In the 17th century, the region that makes up modern day Guyana was subject to Dutch colonial rule. It was initially administrated as three separate colonies of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice. Subsequently, control of Guyana passed between the Dutch, French and British a number of times. Great Britain took control of the three colonial counties of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice in 1803, and they were officially ceded from the Dutch to the British in 1814 with the Treaty of Paris. British Guiana, which was formed by the merging of these three colonies, was officially declared a British colony in 1831. 

As a consequence of British colonial rule, today Guyana is the only English speaking country in South America. Additionally, it is the only Common law jurisdiction in South America, although some elements of Civil law remain. The Dutch colonial administration in the 17th and 18th centuries brought Roman-Dutch law to the region. Since control passed to the British, Roman-Dutch law has been largely replaced, incrementally, by English Common Law. There are some elements of civil law remaining, notably in relation to land law and tenure.

Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1966 and became a cooperative republic in 1970. The President is the head of state and government. Executive power is exercised by the President and the Government. Legislative power is vested in both the President and the National Assembly of Guyana.

For more resources on the legal system in Guyana and its history and development, see the Books section of this guide.

Guyana’s first constitution was the Concept Plan of Redress introduced under Dutch rule in 1792. This remained in force until the 1928 British Guiana (Constitution) Order in Council was passed, establishing British Guiana as a crown colony. The text of this order can be found among IALS library’s collection of legislation from British Guiana held in the reserve collection (see Legislation section of this guide for more information on the library's holdings).

In early 1953, a new Constitution was passed which established a new bicameral legislature. However, by late 1953 the new Constitution was suspended as the British colonial administration became concerned about the activities of the new legislature. IALS library holds a copy of a command paper concerning the suspension of the 1953 Constitution.  

Following this, another Constitution was passed in 1961 which formed a new government with full autonomy over internal affairs. The text of the 1961 Constitution and subsequent constitutional orders from 1964-1965 are held in print at IALS library. The 1961 Constitution formed the basis for the 1966 Constitution, which came into effect when Guyana gained its independence in May 1966. IALS library has a copy of the 1966 Constitution and related constitutional instruments in print, as well as the 1966 Guyana Independence order.

A new socialist government rose to power in 1980, establishing a new Constitution which reaffirmed Guyana as a cooperative republic. This Constitution is still in force today, and has been amended several times. A full text version of the 1980 Constitution is freely available online via several different sources, including the website of the Guyanese Parliament and the Political Database of the Americas.

The full text version of the current constitution, including amendments, is also available online via the library’s subscription to World Constitutions Illustrated, a module of HeinOnline. There are also a number of other resources relating to constitutional law in Guyana on this platform, including commentary and articles, as well as the text of previous constitutions. 

The IALS library collection also contains a number of other resources in print concerning constitutional law in Guyana. For example, for historical information on constitutional law in Guyana, we have a copy of the book Constitutional development in Guyana, 1621-1978 by Mohamed Shahabuddeen, former Guyanese politician and judge, and judge of the International Court of Justice. 

In accordance with the Constitution, the Guyanese Parliament consists of the President and the National Assembly, made up of 65 members elected using the system of proportional representation. 

Legislation is made up of Acts of Parliament and Subsidiary Legislation. To become law, acts need to be passed by the National Assembly, assented to by the President, and then published in the Official Gazette. The Official Gazette is freely available online via its own website. 

Guyanese legislation is freely available online through the Parliament’s official website. This includes numbered acts, subsidiary legislation, bills before Parliament, and other publications and documents. Additionally, the website of the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Chambers of the Attorney General contains a freely available version of the official compilation of the Laws of Guyana. 

To find the full holdings of legislation from Guyana in IALS library, you can run a classmark search on the library catalogue for the classmark GN5.E. The library holds a consolidation of the Laws of Guyana in print, revised up to 1970. The library also has the current version of the Guyana consolidated index of statutes and subsidiary legislation, as well as a number of superseded editions.  

Additionally, the IALS library collection has comprehensive holdings of historical legislation in the region during British colonial rule. This includes a number of consolidations of the laws of British Guiana, covering date ranges from 1580 to 1953. Full details can be found by searching by classmark on the library catalogue for GN5.E.1 for acts, and GN5.E.3 for subsidiary legislation. 

IALS library’s collection also has annual volumes of acts of British Guiana from 1818-1965 and acts of post-independence Guyana from 1966-1988. In addition, annual volumes of subsidiary legislation are held for British Guiana from 1915-1966 and post-independence Guyana from 1966-1988. Some subject specific collections of laws are also held, such as customs laws and mining laws from the 1950s during British colonial rule. 

The court structure in Guyana consists of the magistrates’ courts and the Supreme Court. The magistrates’ courts hear criminal cases and small civil claims. The Supreme Court is made up of the High Court, which hears both civil and criminal matters, and the Court of Appeal, which handles appeals from the High Court. 

The final court of appeal in Guyana is the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), as of 2005. Judgments of the CCJ are freely available online on the CCJ official website. Before Guyana became a republic in 1970, the final court of appeal was the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Between 1970 and 2005, the final court of appeal was the Guyana Court of Appeal. 

IALS Library has a good collection of case reports from Guyana, from before and after independence, including:

Reports of decisions in the Supreme Court of British Guiana (1855-1965)

Guyana law reports (1966-1974)

Current Guyanese decisions appear occasionally in the West Indian Reports. IALS library has print holdings of the West Indian Reports from 1958 to the present day, as well as access online via Lexis+.

IALS library also has a subscription to the Caribbean content on vLex Justis which includes some unreported cases from Caribbean jurisdictions, including those decided by the Caribbean Court of Justice, and superior and specialist courts.

The IALS Library collection has a small number of books about law in Guyana, which can be found at the classmark GN5. Some examples are listed below. 

Collins-Gonsalves J, Iris de Freita Brazao: Legal luminary and trailblazer (Atlantic Academic Publishing Inc. 2023)

Merrill T (ed), Guyana and Belize: country studies (Federal Research Division, Library of Congress 1993)

Ramcharan B, The Guyana Court of Appeal: the challenges of the rule of law in a developing country (Cavendish 2002)

Ramsahoye F, The development of land law in British Guiana (Oceana Publications 1966)

Shahabuddeen M, The legal system of Guyana (1973)

Shahabuddeen M, From plantocracy to nationalisation: a profile of sugar in Guyana (University of Guyana 1983)

There are also resources with content relating to the law of Guyana in books about the Caribbean region more generally. Many of these books can be found at the classmark GR1, with some others classified by subject area. Some examples of books containing information about Guyana are listed below.

Albert R, O'Brien D and Wheatle SS (eds), The Oxford handbook of Caribbean constitutions (Oxford University Press 2020)

Antoine RMB, Commonwealth Caribbean law and legal systems (Routledge-Cavendish 2008)

Cabatingan L, A region among states: law and non-sovereignty in the Caribbean (University of Chicago 2023)

Farran S, Örücü E and Donlan SP, A study of mixed legal systems: endangered, entrenched or blended (Ashgate Publishing 2014)

O’Brien D, The constitutional systems of the Commonwealth Caribbean: a contextual analysis (Hart 2014)

Pieters D, Social security law in small jurisdictions (Springer 2021)

Roberts AE, Hardy S, and Huck W (eds), EU and CARICOM: dilemmas versus opportunities on development, law and economics (Routledge 2021)

There are only two law journals that have been published relating specifically to law in Guyana: the Guyana Law Journal and the Guyana Law Review. Neither of these titles appear to be still in publication as of 2025. Of these titles, IALS library holds issues of the Guyana Law Journal from 1977 only. 

Nevertheless, some content relating to the law of Guyana may be found in legal journals about the Caribbean region as a whole. IALS library has access to the following Caribbean law journals that may contain content relevant to Guyana.

Caribbean Law Review (1991-2009 print; 1991-present online)

West Indian Law Journal (1977-present)

IALS library also holds resources relating to Guyana’s territorial disputes with its neighbours. For example, the library collections contain a number of documents relating to the ongoing territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over the Essequibo region.

This region is an area of roughly 160,000km² which makes up around two thirds of Guyana’s territory west of the Essequibo River, which is claimed by Venezuela as the Guayana Esequiba State. The dispute dates back to the 19th century when the Essequibo region was part of then British Guiana, and has continued since Guyanese independence until the present day. 

Some of the print resources related to the historical Guyana-Venezuela border dispute in IALS library collection are listed below.

Documents submitted by Venezuela to the United States Venezuelan Boundary Commission:
Documents relating to the question of boundary between Venezuela and British Guayana: Submitted to the boundary commission by the counsel of the government of Venezuela (McGill & Wallace 1896)

Report and accompanying papers of the United States Venezuelan Boundary Commission:
United States Venezuelan Boundary Commission, Report and accompanying papers of the Commission appointed to investigate and report upon the true divisional line between the Republic of Venezuela and British Guiana (Govt. Print. Off. 1897)

1899 Paris Arbitral Award of the Tribunal of Arbitration between Great Britain and the United States of Venezuela:
Tribunal of Arbitration between Great Britain and the United States of Venezuela, Boundary between the colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela: Award of the Tribunal of arbitration constituted under article I of the treaty of arbitration signed at Washington on the 2nd February, 1897, between Great Britain and the United States of Venezuela (H.M. Stationery Office 1899)

Proceedings of the 1899 Tribunal of Arbitration between Great Britain and Venezuela:
Tribunal of Arbitration between Great Britain and the United States of Venezuela, British Guiana-Venezuelan boundary: Arbitration between the governments of her Britannic Majesty and the United States of Venezuela. Proceedings. 1st-[55th] days [Jan. 25-Sept. 27, 1899] (Typographie Chamerot et Renouard 1899)

1966 Geneva Agreement between the United Kingdom and Venezuela – in UN Treaty Series:
Agreement to resolve the controversy between Venezuela and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland over the frontier between Venezuela and British Guiana (adopted 17 February 1966, entered into force 5 May 1966) 561 UNTS 321 (Geneva Agreement 1966)

More resources can be found by searching on the library catalogue. The library also has access to the digitised versions of various documents from the late 19th century period of the territorial dispute via LLMC Digital.

As of 2025, the dispute is the subject of an ongoing case before the International Court of Justice, to confirm the legal validity of the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award which ruled largely in favour of the United Kingdom, granting most of the disputed territory to British Guiana. For more information on the ICJ case, see the case concerning the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 on the ICJ website. 

The following are websites providing freely available information about the law in Guyana.

CommonLII Guyana section for legislation and links to other legal resources

National Assembly of the Parliament of Guyana website for information about Parliament, legislation and other documentation

Ministry of Legal Affairs & the Chambers of the Attorney General website for information about the Ministry and the Attorney General, and free online access to the official compilation of the Laws of Guyana

Official Gazette of Guyana website for free online access to the gazette

History of Parliament of Guyana from the website of the Parliament of Guyana

Caribbean Court of Justice website for their judgments and proceedings

CARICOM website for information about and documents relating to CARICOM

GlobaLex research guide on Guyana Law and Legal Research

Guyana section of the Commonwealth Caribbean Court Systems research guide from the University of the West Indies Library  

Guide to Law Online: Guyana from the Library of Congress research guides