The lecture forms part of a series that aims to deepen understanding of the legal and constitutional principles that form the essence of the law that lies at the core of the democracies of most Commonwealth Caribbean countries today.

Current Ambassador to CARICOM and the OECS, Dr. June Soomer, will on Wednesday, Feb. 11, deliver a lecture titled “The Magna Carta and the Notion of Rights in Post Slavery/Post Independent Countries.”

Dr. Soomer is also a former History lecturer at the University of the West Indies.

The lecture is the UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia’s contribution to the Magna Carta Lecture Series, a series of UWI-initiated lectures taking place across the region in celebration of the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta.

The Magna Carta was one of the first documents imposed upon the King of England by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their rights. The charter is widely known throughout the English speaking world as an important part of the protracted historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law in England and beyond. It limited the power of authoritarian rule, the “divine right of kings,” and it paved the way for trial by jury, modified through the ages as the franchise was extended.

The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine Campus has been awarded a grant by the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Committee in the UK to support the work of UWI in promoting the understanding of Magna Carta in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

Through the grant, a project titled “The Impact and Influence of Magna Carta on the Commonwealth Caribbean,” is being led by Dr. Hamid Ghany, Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Coordinator of the Constitutional Affairs and Parliamentary Studies Unit (CAPSU) of UWI’s Faculty of Social Sciences.

The lecture series aims to deepen our understanding of the foundation of the legal and constitutional principles that form the essence of the English Common Law that lies at the core of the democracies of most Commonwealth Caribbean countries today.

The lecture takes place at 10 a.m., at the UWI Morne Fortune campus, Saint Lucia. The public is invited to attend.