Bermuda’s first written constitution became operative in 1968, two years after a delegation from the island travelled to London for a constitutional conference. Attending at Marlborough House, a Grade I listed mansion built in 1711, were representatives of the United Bermuda Party, the Progressive Labour Party, the Legislative Council (now called the Senate), independent members of the House of Assembly, and various legal advisers. There they met with Frederick Lee, Baron Lee of Newton, the British Labour Party politician and peer who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies. The Governor of Bermuda, Lord Martonmere, also attended.
Amended on several occasions since it was introduced 57 years ago, Bermuda’s Constitution is the oldest of all the British Overseas Territories. It contains provisions relating to the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual, the powers and duties of the governor, and the composition, powers and procedure of the legislature, cabinet, judiciary, and public service. In present day political language, it provided that the cabinet had responsibility for the island’s internal affairs, while the governor retained control of external affairs, defence, internal security and the police, while being constitutionally obliged to consult with the government of the day.
The document has had its critics since before its promulgation. Rising in the House of Commons on November 22, 1966, to make a statement about the conference, Baron Lee said he expected it to conclude that afternoon and provided a summary. According to Hansard, the official record of parliament, he added: “The conference report was not unanimously adopted. There are two minority reports. The first signed by two independents who consider the compromise arrangements adopted by the conference go too far. The second is from the Progressive Labour Party who, I regret, were not prepared to compromise and reserved their positions on virtually every issue of importance.”
More recent critics of the document say that it closely resembles the Bahamian Constitution of 1963 and follows a Colonial Office template used during the 1960s era of decolonisation and independence, rather than being written with Bermuda’s particular history and characteristics in mind.
