Ira DeCordova Rowe

Ira De Cordova Rowe, QC, OJ (8 February 1928 – 25 January 2004) was one of the jurists of the Commonwealth Caribbean. His decisions on Jamaican, Belizan and Bahamian Constitution Law created a new Commonwealth jurisprudence based on the Westminster Model with a strong reliance on the wording of the new Commonwealth Caribbean constitutions. Rowe's support for the Caribbean Court of Justice swayed many of the Court's initial critics. His belief in Caribbean law students inspired many young lawyers of Caribbean heritage. Judge Rowe thought that judges ought not to usurp the role of the legislator and based most of his published opinions on principles of English and Caribbean Law as laid down in precedents and statutes. He believed that the newly independent Caribbean nations needed efficient, practical legal systems based on certainty and stability.

He served as president of the Courts of Appeal in Jamaica, in Belize, in Grand Cayman, in the Bahamas and in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He served as Solicitor General of Jamaica.

Ira Rowe was extremely prominent in Caribbean jurisprudence during the last three decades of the twentieth century. He was the author of many significant decisions, including the Queen v Oliver Whylie, which codified the law of identification in the Caribbean; and Belize Alliance vs the Department of the Environment and Belize Electric Company Ltd., the most significant environmental decision in the Commonwealth Caribbean. His role in chairing the Family Law Committee in Jamaica led to the repeal of bastardy laws in Jamaica. Most other Caribbean Commonwealth jurisdictions followed.

Biography

He was born in humble circumstances in Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica. Prior to the proposals of his Family Law Committee, individuals who were born out of wedlock in the Caribbean could not inherit in pari passu with their legitimate siblings.

Rowe was a champion of the Caribbean Court of Justice, which he did not live to serve on. He served as Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Jamaica for 20 years.

He died aged 75 on 25 January 2004 in the Turks & Caicos Islands. Queen Elizabeth II expressed condolences on his death through a statement issued by her Chief Clerk, Gill Middleburgh.