Law of Gibraltar

Last updated

The law of Gibraltar is a combination of common law and statute, and is based heavily upon English law.

Contents

The English Law (Application) Act 1962 stipulates that English common law will apply to Gibraltar unless overridden by Gibraltar law. However, as Gibraltar is a self-governing British overseas territory, it maintains its own independent tax status and its parliament can enact laws independently of the United Kingdom.

Constitution

The Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006 replaced the Gibraltar Constitution Order 1969.

Legislation

The legislature is the Gibraltar Parliament (formerly called the Gibraltar House of Assembly). It replaced the Gibraltar Legislative Council which replaced the Governor-in-Council.

The gazette is the Gibraltar Gazette. [1]

List of legislation

Ordinances:

Acts of the Gibraltar Legislative Council:

Cases and reports

Collections of law reports include:

Courts and judiciary

There is a Court of Appeal for Gibraltar, a Supreme Court of Gibraltar, and a Magistrates' Court. There is a Chief Justice. [4]

There is a fused profession. It has two branches, barristers and solicitors. The two branches are not separate, have identical rights of audience, can both be approached directly by clients, and can both be members of firms. [5] The Gibraltar Bar Council [6] replaced [7] the Gibraltar Bar Association (or Bar Association of Gibraltar). [8]

Criminal law

As to the criminal law of Gibraltar generally, see the Crimes Act 2011 (No 2011-23). This Act repealed and replaced the Criminal Offences Act (No 1960-17), the Drugs (Misuse) Act (No 1973-06), the Crimes (Computer Hacking) Act 2009 (No 2009-44), the Dangerous Dogs Act 2003 (No 2003-03), and the Crimes (Indecent Photographs with Children) Act 2009 (No 2009-40). [9]

As to criminal procedure in Gibraltar, see the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act 2011 (No 2011-24). This Act repealed and replaced the Criminal Procedure Act (No 1961-24) and the Crimes (Vulnerable Witnesses) Act 2009 (No 2009-34). [10]

As to extradition, see the Extradition Act 2018 (No 2018-29) and the Extradition Arrest Warrant Act 2004 (No 2004-04). As to the return of fugitive offenders, see the Fugitive Offenders Act 2002 (No 2002-15).

As to the proceeds of crime, see the Proceeds of Crime Act 2015 (No 2015-22). As to drug traffiking offences, see the Drug Trafficking Offences Act (No 1995-06). As to criminal libel, see Part V of the Defamation Act (No 1960-36).

Taxation

As to income tax, see the Income Tax Act 2010 (No 2010-21). This Act repealed and replaced the Companies (Taxations and Concessions) Act 1983 (No 1983-13) and the Income Tax Act 1952 (No 1952-11), except section 41A. [11] As to social insurance contributions, see the Social Security (Insurance) Act (No 1955-14). As to stamp duties, see the Stamp Duties Act 2005 (No 2005-73). As to import duty, see Part V of the Imports and Exports Act 1986 (No 1986-21).

As to the implementation of the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, see the Taxation (Mutual Administrative Assistance) Act 2014 (No 2014-06).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English law</span> Legal system of England and Wales

English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extradition</span> Transfer of a suspect from one jurisdiction to another by law enforcement

In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdictions and depends on the arrangements made between them. In addition to legal aspects of the process, extradition also involves the physical transfer of custody of the person being extradited to the legal authority of the requesting jurisdiction.

The judiciary of Germany is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in Germany.

An ex post facto law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law. In criminal law, it may criminalize actions that were legal when committed; it may aggravate a crime by bringing it into a more severe category than it was in when it was committed; it may change the punishment prescribed for a crime, as by adding new penalties or extending sentences; it may extend the Statute of limitations; or it may alter the rules of evidence in order to make conviction for a crime likelier than it would have been when the deed was committed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garfield Barwick</span> 7th Chief Justice of Australia and politician (1903-1997)

Sir Garfield Edward John Barwick, was an Australian judge who was the seventh and longest serving Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1964 to 1981. He had earlier been a Liberal Party politician, serving as a minister in the Menzies government from 1958 to 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law of India</span>

The legal system of India consists of Civil law, Common law, Customary law, Religious law and Corporate law within the legal framework inherited from the colonial era and various legislation first introduced by the British are still in effect in modified forms today. Since the drafting of the Indian Constitution, Indian laws also adhere to the United Nations guidelines on human rights law and the environmental law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law of Singapore</span> National law of the city-state

The legal system of Singapore is based on the English common law system. Major areas of law – particularly administrative law, contract law, equity and trust law, property law and tort law – are largely judge-made, though certain aspects have now been modified to some extent by statutes. However, other areas of law, such as criminal law, company law and family law, are almost completely statutory in nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminal Assets Bureau</span> Irish law enforcement agency

The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) is a law enforcement agency in Ireland. The CAB was established with powers to focus on the illegally acquired assets of criminals involved in serious crime. The aims of the CAB are to identify the criminally acquired assets of persons and to take the appropriate action to deny such people these assets. This action is taken particularly through the application of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996. The CAB was established as a body corporate with perpetual succession in 1996 and is founded on the multi-agency concept, drawing together law enforcement officers, tax officials, social welfare officials as well as other specialist officers including legal officers, forensic analysts and financial analysts. This multi-agency concept is regarded by some as the model for other European jurisdictions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proceeds of Crime Act 2002</span> British statute law on confiscation and money laundering

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (c.29) (POCA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which provides for the confiscation or civil recovery of the proceeds from crime and contains the principal money laundering legislation in the UK.

Anti-terrorism legislation are laws with the purpose of fighting terrorism. They usually, if not always, follow specific bombings or assassinations. Anti-terrorism legislation usually includes specific amendments allowing the state to bypass its own legislation when fighting terrorism-related crimes, under alleged grounds of necessity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law of the British Virgin Islands</span>

The law of the British Virgin Islands is a combination of common law and statute, and is based heavily upon English law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law of Bangladesh</span> Overview of the law of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a common law country having its legal system developed by the British rulers during their colonial rule over British India. The land now comprises Bangladesh was known as Bengal during the British and Mughal regime while by some other names earlier. Though there were religious and political equipments and institutions from almost prehistoric era, Mughals first tried to recognise and establish them through state mechanisms. The Charter of 1726, granted by King George I, authorised the East India Company to establish Mayor's Courts in Madras, Bombay and Calcutta and is recognised as the first codified law for the British India. As a part of the then British India, it was the first codified law for the then Bengal too. Since independence in 1971, statutory law enacted by the Parliament of Bangladesh has been the primary form of legislation. Judge-made law continues to be significant in areas such as constitutional law. Unlike in other common law countries, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh has the power to not only interpret laws made by the parliament, but to also declare them null and void and to enforce fundamental rights of the citizens. The Bangladesh Code includes a compilation of all laws since 1836. The vast majority of Bangladeshi laws are in English. But most laws adopted after 1987 are in Bengali. Family law is intertwined with religious law. Bangladesh has significant international law obligations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law of Bhutan</span>

The law of Bhutan derives mainly from legislation and treaties. Prior to the enactment of the Constitution, laws were enacted by fiat of the King of Bhutan. The law of Bhutan originates in the semi-theocratic Tsa Yig legal code, and was heavily influenced through the twentieth century by English common law. As Bhutan democratizes, its government has examined many countries' legal systems and modeled its reforms after their laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodomy law</span> Laws criminalising certain sexual acts

A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as crimes. The precise sexual acts meant by the term sodomy are rarely spelled out in the law, but are typically understood by courts to include any sexual act deemed to be "unnatural" or "immoral". Sodomy typically includes anal sex, oral sex, and bestiality. In practice, sodomy laws have rarely been enforced against heterosexual couples, and have mostly been used to target homosexual couples.

The law of Luxembourg is civil law. From the Tenth Century to the Fifteenth Century the law of the Grand Duchy was customary law.

The law of Malta incorporates continental law, common law and local traditions, such as Code de Rohan. A municipal code was enacted in 1784 and replaced in 1813. Maltese law has evolved over the centuries and reflected the rule of the context of the time. At present Malta has a mixed-system codification, influenced by Roman law, French law-Napoleonic Code, British law-Common Law, European Union law, international law, and customary law established through local customs

The law of the Slovak Republic is civil law.

The law of Hungary is civil law. It was first codified during the socialist period.

References

  1. Legal Guides. Guide to Law Online: Gibraltar. Library of Congress.
  2. "Gibraltar Law Reports" (1979) 10 The Law Librarian 50 (No 3, December 1979)
  3. The Gibraltar Law Reports 1979. Gibraltar Law Reports, Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations.
  4. Justice System. Gibraltar Courts Service.
  5. Gibraltar: Detailed Assessment Report on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, International Monetary Fund, May 2007, p 91. Milton Grundy, Tax Havens: A World Survey, 1999, p 44; Grundy's Tax Havens: A World Survey, 3rd Ed, The Bodley Head, 1974, p 47. "Gibraltar" (1914) 13 Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation 138. Tolley's Tax Havens, 3rd Ed, 2000, p 221. Soar, "Gibraltar", The New International Directory of Legal Aid, 2002, p 112. Tett and Chadwick, "Bar Association of Gibraltar", Professional Organizations in the Commonwealth, 2nd Ed, 1976, p 406. The Autobiography of D N Pritt, 1965, Part 1, p 158.
  6. Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes: Gibraltar 2020 (Second Round), OECD, p 28
  7. About the Bar Council, Gibraltar Bar Council.
  8. Tett and Chadwick, "Bar Association of Gibraltar", Professional Organizations in the Commonwealth, 2nd Ed, 1976, p 406. "Gibraltar", International Directory of Bar Associations, 3rd Ed, 1964. "Notes on the Legal System" in "Gibraltar", Kime's International Law Directory, 1999, p 165.
  9. The Crimes Act 2011, section 599(1)
  10. The Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act 2011, section 699(1)
  11. The Income Tax Act 2010, section 75 and Schedule 9, paragraph 1(1) (as read with section 74)