Senate Seeks To Update Antiquated Laws

While the Virgin Islands passes new laws several times a year addressing the ever-evolving needs of the territory, a few old laws, some enacted a century or more ago, are long forgotten, widely ignored, or possibly getting in the way, officials said Monday.

The Senate’s Rules and Judiciary Committee held the first of two planned symposiums Monday, where elected officials and legal experts discussed ways the V.I. Code could or should be updated.

Committee Chair Sen. Diane Capehart said former Attorney General Iver Stridiron, currently the Legislature’s code revisor, had suggested 82 laws for potential revision, some dating back to 1921. There were many more to come. Stridiron said more than 1,000 amendments were urgently needed to bring the code up to date.

The V.I. Code had not had a comprehensive update since 1921 he said, and a complete overhaul had not been undertaken since 1958 or 1959. Such revisions and updates should ideally take place every decade, he said.