ABSTRACT
Dismissal at pleasure was, at the time of colonial domination, a firm principle of British constitutional law which was applicable in the then British Empire. But (as we shall see in this chapter), there are still traces in the public service of present day independent States. The doctrine derives its origin from the Stingsby case1 in which Stingsby, the Master of the Mint, having been accused of misdemeanour, was suspended by the Sovereign, even though he held office for life. The court upheld the suspension on the ground that it was within the King’s prerogative to suspend a public officer. The doctrine was to reign supreme not only in Britain (as it still does) but in ‘Her Majesty’s Dominions and Realms’ beyond the seas, where it is today very much on the wane, having been abolished in the Caribbean in the dramatic and abrupt manner that we shall show below.
