A Brief History of the Legislature of Belize

November 9, 2022
by denidimchev@webohub.com +

What we now know as Belize was formerly a critical component of the Maya Empire, and the collection of city-states were governed by a strictly hierarchical political system where priests and royalty determined the law of the land. While we aren’t sure exactly how the Mayans fell into decline, the Mayan people that lived there by the time of the European invasion seemed to prescribe to more localized political systems. Unfortunately, the disease and warfare that Europeans brought leave us with limited knowledge of what these systems looked like. And while Belize’s legislature would change over the years, the origins of this Caribbean country’s modern politics can be traced all the way back to the arrival of the English in the 17th century.

Organization of the Early English Settlers

While the Spanish ostensibly claimed control over Belize in the 16th century, the absence of any major populations made it an appealing outpost for English buccaneers. Ostensibly illegal, these earlier settlers spend most of their time raiding Spanish ships for lumber — but as they begin to congregate in the area where Belize City now sits and develop their own lumber industry, the need for some sort of rule of law became apparent. This was underscored by a 1667 treaty that gave buccaneers more formal rights to lumber production as a way to reduce piracy in the region. But continued tensions — and direct martial conflict — between the English settlers and Spanish forces prevented formal regulation from fully taking hold in Belize.

These early colonists employed what’s known as a Public Meeting system. This stripped-down form of democracy was predicated on a system where all free residents could have equal votes on legislation that was presented in meetings held every four months. The enslaved Africans shipped to Belize to perform heavy labor were not allowed any voice in these meetings. Indigenous Mayas were also barred from having a voice. It’s a system that would continue to evolve over time. The rules would become formalized in 1765 as Burnaby’s code-named after the prominent English admiral. Barnaby’s Law helped formalize property rights — including the rights to own enslaved people — as well as establishing forms of taxation for the development of public services and infrastructure. Barnaby’s code would remain in effect beyond the abolition of slavery in 1838.

The First Legislative Assembly

The land where Belize stands wouldn’t formally be recognized as the English colony of British Honduras until 1862, but it was recognized by the British and overseen by a superintendent sent by them as early as 1784. The conflict between the superintendent and landowners persisted since nearly the beginning — but as British Honduras continued to develop international legitimacy and prove lucrative to the English crown, the superintendent began to possess greater influence. In 1854, the Public Meeting system was replaced with a Legislative Assembly. Since members of the assembly were required to be influential property owners and the superintendent had practically unfettered control to block legislation and dissolve the Legislative Assembly on a whim, it stripped away many of the democratic principles at the heart of the prior system of governance. While the precise terms of the Assembly would shift over time, the basic principles would remain in effect until well into the 20th century. The name would be changed to the Legislative Council in 1871 before reverting back in 1935. Power remained almost entirely in the hands of wealthy landowners over the course of these years.

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The Rise of Modern Belize Politics

The 1930s were a hard time in British Honduras, just as they were for much of the world. The Great Depression hit the colony hard — and while slavery had been abolished decades before, laborers working in the mahogany industry still possessed few rights. A powerful labor movement would begin to form when the governor rejected proposals for labor laws, and they would eventually serve as the basis for a national system of political parties. A united group of disenfranchised Creoles and Mayas began to extract equity in the form of cooperatives and credit unions. But their attempts for self-determination and basic labor rights would prove incompatible with contemporary governance. The People’s United Party was formed in 1950 and was followed two years later by the National Party.

The Road to Self Determination

1954 was an important year for British Honduras, in that it saw the passage of both universal suffrage and the formation of a new Constitution. This took the form of a reborn Legislative Assembly which saw its first general election the same year. The People’s United Party nominee saw overwhelming success in this election, establishing themselves as a tremendous force of power for the still disenfranchised majority population. The decades that followed would see this political system continue to evolve. Ministers were created to better offer expert guidance for the complexities of 20th-century governance, and the name of British Honduras would officially be changed to Belize in 1973.

Achieving Independence

Despite its people working hard to earn some degree of self-determination, Belize wouldn’t be surrendered as a British colony until 1981. Many of the activists who spent the 1930s and 1940s fighting for change saw independence as the ultimate goal — but they faced serious challenges thanks to the fact that the United Kingdom didn’t want to abandon their colony and Guatemalan disputes regarding ownership of the land. In 1981, independence was finally won. Today, the fundamental governing principles established in 1954 continue to remain in place, even as some of the details have changed over the decades.