Attorney-General of Belize

Attorney General of Belize
Incumbent Magali Marin Young S.C since 11 December 2020
Attorney General's Ministry
Member of	House of Representatives Cabinet
Reports to	Governor-General of Belize Prime Minister of Belize
Nominator	Prime Minister of Belize
Appointer	Governor-General of Belize
Term length	5 years
Constituting instrument	Belize Constitution
Inaugural holder	Vernon Harrison Courtenay
Website	www.agm.gov.bz

The Attorney-General of Belize is a cabinet-level official who acts as the principal legal adviser to the government of Belize.^[1]

Overview

The position of AG is outlined in Section 42 of the Constitution of Belize, which requires that the AG have been qualified for at least five years to practice as an advocate in a court of unlimited jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Nations or Ireland. Civil proceedings for and against the State are taken in the name of the Attorney General.^[1]

Prior to 2010, the constitution also required that the AG be a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate of Belize. As part of the Belize Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Bill, the government proposed to remove this restriction; the same bill also proposed to replace the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice, and to allow dual citizens to become members of Parliament.^[2] The thinking behind this amendment was that an unelected AG could avoid becoming embroiled in partisan politics.^[3]

Then-AG Wilfred Elrington, who concurrently held the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Foreign Trade, justified the proposed changes by pointing out that he was already overworked due to his three positions, and that changing the requirement would allow the PM to tap the best talent from the private sector to become AG. However, in the House, Mark Espat (PUP) criticised the bill as creating a special privilege for lawyers to get around the ordinary electoral process on their way to the Cabinet, while Said Musa stated that the change should be unnecessary given that the PM already had the power to appoint a 13th member to the Senate; despite these concerns, the bill passed the House (though with the dual-citizenship MP provisions stripped out.^[4]^[5] In the Senate, Henry Gordon and Godwin Hulse expressed concern over this change, but the bill passed the Senate as well by a vote of eight-to-two with two abstentions.^[2]^[6]

List of attorneys-general

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2012)

British Honduras (1862–1973)

Sir Alexander Campbell Onslow, 1878–1880
(Sir) Henry Rawlins Pipon Schooles 1880–1883 ^[7]^[8]
Sir W. Meigh Goodman KC, 1883–1886
Charles Reginald Hoffmeister, 1886–1893
Leslie Probyn 1893–96 (afterwards Attorney General of Grenada, 1896)
Sir Frederic Mackenzie Maxwell, 1896–1907 (afterwards Chief Justice of British Honduras, 1907)
- Henry Eugene Walter Grant, 1902–1903 (acting)
C.R. Davies, c.1907^[9]
Lancelot Elphinstone, 1913–?1919 (afterwards Solicitor General of Trinidad, 1919)
Sir George O'Donnell Walton, 1919-?1921 (afterwards Chief Justice of Grenada, 1921)
Hon. Willoughby Bullock, c. 1926-?1928 (afterwards Chief Justice of St Vincent, 1928)
Sidney Alexander Roger McKinstry, 1932–c.1941 ^[10]
- O.L. Bancroft, 1941 ^[11] (acting)
Harold John Hughes, 1941–1950 ^[12]
Cyril George Xavier Henriques, 1950–1956 ^[13](afterwards Chief Justice of the Windward and Leeward Islands, 1958)
Charles Francis Henville, c. 1956–1968
John Kingsley Havers, c. 1968–1973

Belize

Vernon Harrison Courtenay, c. 1974 - c. 1979
Said Musa, 1979–1984 under PM George Cadle Price^[14]
Hubert Elrington, 1984–1986 under PM Manuel Esquivel^[15]
Dean Barrow, 1986–1989 under PM Manuel Esquivel^[16]
Glenn Godfrey 1989–1993 under PM George Cadle Price
Dean Barrow, 1993–1998 (second) under PM Manuel Esquivel^[17]
Godfrey Smith, 1999–2003 under PM Said Musa^[18]
Eamon Harrison Courtenay SC, 2004 – c. 2007 under PM Said Musa^[3]^[19]
Francis Fonseca, c. 2007 under PM Said Musa^[20]
Wilfred Elrington, 2008–2010 under PM Dean Barrow
Bernard Q. Pitts, 2010–2012 under PM Dean Barrow^[21]
Wilfred Elrington (second), 2012–2015 under PM Dean Barrow^[21]
Vanessa Retreage, 2015-2017 under PM Dean Barrow.^[22]
Michael Peyrefitte, 2017-2020 under PM Dean Barrow.^[23]
Magali Marin-Young, 2020–present under PM Johnny Briceño^{[citation needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b "Part V: The Executive". The Constitution of Belize. Attorney-General of Belize. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Senators raise more questions about Attorney General". News 5 Belize. 23 February 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Former attorney general speaks about AG post". News 5 Belize. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
^ "Sparks fly over lawyer's appointment as attorney general". News 5 Belize. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
^ "Feisty Debate Over Seventh Amendment Bill". 7 News Belize. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
^ Ramos, Adele (26 February 2010). "Belize Senate approves Caribbean Court of Justice". Amandala. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
^ "No. 24861". The London Gazette. 6 July 1880. p. 3804.
^ "County Families of the UK". Mocavo. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
^ "General Index". Solicitors' Journal and Weekly Reporter. 51: 831.
^ "Kingston Gleamer". 12 April 1938.
^ "British Honduras Gazette". Retrieved 25 August 2019.
^ "No. 38878". The London Gazette. 4 April 1950. p. 1667.
^ The Catholic Lawyer. p. 82.
^ Said Musa - Caribbean Hall of Fame; accessed 12 May 2015
^ FORM 8-K PUB CRAWL HOLDINGS, INC., U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 6 September 2012; accessed 12 May 2015.
^ "Belize - Head of Government: The Hon Dean Oliver Barrow, Prime Minister". Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
^ Our Leaders|United Democratic Party, United Democratic Party; accessed 12 May 2015.
^ "Attorney General holds legal summit". News 5 Belize. 16 November 1999. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
^ "Prime Minister repositions Ministers". San Pedro Sun. 15 January 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
^ "2007 Belize Cruise". US Department of State. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
^ ^a ^b "B.Q. who no longer; AG Elrington resumes post". News 5 Belize. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
^ "PM Barrow Appoints First Ever Female Attorney General for Belize - Love FM – News & Music Power". lovefm.com. Archived from the original on 12 November 2015.
^ http://www.wiredja.com/news/caribbean/item/5123-belize-outgoing-speaker-sworn-in-as-new-attorney-general ^{[dead link]}

External links

Senate of Belize Debate on the Belize Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Bill, 23 February 2010

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Category
Portal

Attorney General of the Caribbean

British West Indies
Danish West Indies
Dutch Caribbean
- Caribbean Netherlands
- Netherlands Antilles
French West Indies
West Indies Federation

West
Indies

Antilles

Greater
Antilles

Cayman Islands
Cuba
Jamaica
Navassa Island
Puerto Rico

Hispaniola	Dominican Republic Haiti

Lesser
Antilles

Leeward
Islands

Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Guadeloupe
- La Désirade
- Les Saintes
- Marie-Galante
Montserrat
Saba^{^*}
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Sint Eustatius^{^*}

Saint Martin^{^}	Collectivity of Saint Martin Sint Maarten
Virgin Islands	British Virgin Islands U.S. Virgin Islands

Southern
Caribbean

Leeward
Antilles

Insular Venezuela
- Federal Dependencies
- Nueva Esparta

ABC islands	Aruba Bonaire^* Curaçao

Windward
Islands

Dominica
Grenada
- Carriacou and Petite Martinique
Martinique
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Barbados^†
Trinidad and Tobago^†

Lucayan
Archipelago

Bahamas

Turks and Caicos Islands

Caribbean
Sea

Aves Island
San Andrés and Providencia
- Bajo Nuevo Bank^~
- Serranilla Bank^~

Caribbean
continental
zone

Quintana Roo
- Cozumel

Central America	Belize Honduras Bay Islands Izabal Limón Corn Islands North Caribbean Coast South Caribbean Coast Panama
South America	Colombian Caribbean Venezuelan Caribbean

Wider
groupings
may include:

Bermuda^#
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Nicaragua

Yucatán Peninsula	Campeche Petén Yucatán
The Guianas	Amapá French Guiana Venezuelan Guayana Guyana Guayana Esequiba^ǂ Tigri Area^ǂ Suriname

N.B.: Territories in italics are parts of transregional sovereign states or non-sovereign dependencies.

^{^}These three form the SSS islands that with the ABC islands comprise the Dutch Caribbean, of which ^*the BES islands are not direct Kingdom constituents but subsumed with the country of the Netherlands.

^†Physiographically, these continental islands are not part of the volcanic Windward Islands arc, although sometimes grouped with them culturally and politically.

^ǂDisputed territories administered by Guyana. ^~Disputed territories administered by Colombia.

^#Bermuda is an isolated North Atlantic oceanic island, physiographically not part of the Lucayan Archipelago, Antilles, Caribbean Sea nor North American continental nor South American continental islands. It is grouped with the Northern American region, but occasionally also with the Caribbean region culturally.

v t e Attorneys-General of the Americas
United States and Canada Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America Hispanic North America Northern Caribbean Central America South America
Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago United States Uruguay Venezuela
Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Falkland Islands French Guiana Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saba Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands U.S. Virgin Islands

Attorneys General of the British Empire and the United Kingdom

Legend: Current territory; Former territory; * Now a Commonwealth realm; Now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations

Europe
1175-1921 Ireland 1708–1757 Menorca Since 1713 Gibraltar 1763–1782 Menorca 1798–1802 Menorca 1800–1813 Malta (Protectorate) 1813–1964 Malta (Colony) 1807–1890 Heligoland 1809–1864 Ionian Islands 1878–1960 Cyprus 1921–1937 Irish Free State

North America

17th century and before		18th century	19th and 20th century
1579 New Albion 1583–1907 Newfoundland 1605–1979 *Saint Lucia 1607–1776 Virginia Since 1619 Bermuda 1620–1691 Plymouth Colony 1623–1883 Saint Kitts *(Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1624–1966 *Barbados 1625–1650 Saint Croix 1627–1979 *Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1628–1883 Nevis *(Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1629–1691 Massachusetts Bay Colony 1632–1776 Maryland since 1632 Montserrat 1632–1860 Antigua *(Antigua & Barbuda) 1636–1776 Connecticut 1636–1776 Rhode Island 1637–1662 New Haven Colony	1643–1860 Bay Islands Since 1650 Anguilla 1655–1850 Mosquito Coast (protectorate) 1655–1962 *Jamaica 1663–1712 Carolina 1664–1776 New York 1665–1674 and 1702–1776 New Jersey Since 1666 British Virgin Islands Since 1670 Cayman Islands 1670–1973 *Bahamas 1670–1870 Rupert's Land 1671–1816 Leeward Islands 1674–1702 East Jersey 1674–1702 West Jersey 1680–1776 New Hampshire 1681–1776 Pennsylvania 1686–1689 Dominion of New England 1691–1776 Massachusetts	1701–1776 Delaware 1712–1776 North Carolina 1712–1776 South Carolina 1713–1867 Nova Scotia 1733–1776 Georgia 1762–1974 *Grenada 1763–1978 Dominica 1763–1873 Prince Edward Island 1763–1791 Quebec 1763–1783 East Florida 1763–1783 West Florida 1784–1867 New Brunswick 1791–1841 Lower Canada 1791–1841 Upper Canada Since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands	1818–1846 Columbia District/Oregon Country¹ 1833–1960 Windward Islands 1833–1960 Leeward Islands 1841–1867 Province of Canada 1849–1866 Vancouver Island 1853–1863 Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands 1858–1866 British Columbia 1859–1870 North-Western Territory 1860–1981 *British Antigua and Barbuda 1862–1863 Stikine Territory 1866–1871 Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1867–1931 *Dominion of Canada² 1871–1964 British Honduras (*Belize) 1882–1983 *Saint Kitts and Nevis 1889–1962 Trinidad and Tobago 1907–1949 Dominion of Newfoundland³ 1958–1962 West Indies Federation

1. Occupied jointly with the United States.
2. In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. See Canada's name.
3. Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion until it joined Canada in 1949.

South America
1651–1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1670–1688 Saint Andrew and Providence Islands⁴ 1831–1966 British Guiana (Guyana) Since 1833 Falkland Islands⁵ Since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands⁵
4. Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia. 5. Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982.

Africa

17th and 18th centuries	19th century		20th century
Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ 1792–1961 Sierra Leone 1795–1803 Cape Colony	Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ 1806–1910 Cape Colony 1807–1808 Madeira 1810–1968 Mauritius 1816–1965 The Gambia 1856–1910 Natal 1868–1966 Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874–1957 Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882–1922 Egypt	1884–1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884–1960 British Somaliland 1887–1897 Zululand 1890–1962 Uganda 1890–1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891–1964 Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891–1907 British Central Africa Protectorate 1893–1968 Swaziland 1895–1920 East Africa Protectorate 1899–1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan	1900–1914 Northern Nigeria 1900–1914 Southern Nigeria 1900–1910 Orange River Colony 1900–1910 Transvaal Colony 1906–1954 Nigeria Colony 1910–1931 South Africa 1914–1954 Nigeria Colony and Protectorate 1915–1931 South West Africa (Namibia) 1919–1960 Cameroons (Cameroon)⁶ 1920–1963 Kenya 1922–1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania)⁶ 1923–1965 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷ 1924–1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1954–1960 Nigeria 1979–1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷

6. League of Nations mandate.
7. Self-governing Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence in 1965 (as Rhodesia) and continued as an unrecognised state until the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. After recognised independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was a member of the Commonwealth until it withdrew in 2003.

Asia

17th and 18th century	19th century		20th century
1652–1950 Madras Presidency 1668-1947 Bombay Presidency 1685–1824 Bencoolen (Sumatra) 1702–1705 Pulo Condore 1757–1947 Bengal Presidency (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1762–1764 Manila and Cavite 1786–1946 Penang (Malaysia) 1795–1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1796–1965 Maldives	1812–1824 Banka (Sumatra) and Billiton (Sumatra) 1819–1826 British Malaya (West Malaysia and Singapore) 1826–1946 Straits Settlements (Malaysia and Singapore) 1839–1967 Colony of Aden 1839–1842 Afghanistan 1841–1997 Hong Kong 1841–1946 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia) 1848–1946 Labuan (Malaysia) 1858–1947 British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma) 1874–1963 British Borneo (East Malaysia and Brunei)	1879–1919 Afghanistan (protectorate) 1882–1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885–1946 Unfederated Malay States 1888–1984 Sultanate of Brunei 1891–1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892–1971 Trucial States 1895–1946 Federated Malay States 1898–1930 Weihai Garrison 1878–1960 Cyprus	1907–1949 Bhutan (protectorate) 1918–1961 Kuwait protectorate 1920–1932 Iraq⁸ 1921–1946 Transjordan⁸ 1923–1948 Palestine⁸ 1945–1946 South Vietnam 1946–1963 North Borneo (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Sarawak (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Singapore 1946–1948 Malayan Union 1948–1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) Since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia (before as part of Cyprus) Since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory (before as part of Mauritius and the Seychelles)

⁸ League of Nations mandate. Iraq's mandate was not enacted and replaced by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty

Oceania

18th and 19th centuries		20th century
1788–1901 New South Wales 1803–1901 Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1807–1863 Auckland Islands⁹ 1824–1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824–1901 Queensland 1829–1901 Swan River Colony/Western Australia 1836–1901 South Australia since 1838 Pitcairn Islands	1841–1907 Colony of New Zealand 1851–1901 Victoria 1874–1970 Fiji¹⁰ 1877–1976 British Western Pacific Territories 1884–1949 Territory of Papua 1888–1901 Cook Islands⁹ 1889–1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)⁹ 1892–1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands¹¹ 1893–1978 British Solomon Islands¹²	1900–1970 Tonga (protected state) 1900–1974 Niue⁹ 1901–1942 *Commonwealth of Australia 1907–1953 *Dominion of New Zealand 1919–1942 Nauru 1945–1968 Nauru 1919–1949 Territory of New Guinea 1949–1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea¹³

9. Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand.
10. Suspended member.
11. Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu.
12. Now the *Solomon Islands.
13. Now *Papua New Guinea.

Antarctica and South Atlantic
Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ Since 1908 British Antarctic Territory¹⁵ 1841–1933 Australian Antarctic Territory (transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia) 1841–1947 Ross Dependency (transferred to the Realm of New Zealand)
14. Since 2009 part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island (1922–) and Tristan da Cunha (1938–) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena. 15. Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).