MAURITIUS: CONSTITUTIONALISM IN A PLURAL SOCIETY
| Date | 01 November 1968 |
| Author | S. A. Smith |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1968.tb01213.x |
| Published date | 01 November 1968 |
THE
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW
Volume
31
November
1968
No.
6
MAUltITIUS
:
CONS‘L’ITUTIONALISM IN
A
PLURAL
SOCIETY
‘I
A
daintie island of good refreshing
.
. .
there is not under the sunne
a more pleasant, healthy and fruitful piece
of
ground for an island
uninhabiled.”
(PE~ER
MUNDY,
navigator,
c.
1G38.)
MAURITIUS,
l’lle
de
France,
was ceded to the Crown in
1814.
It
became an independent member of the Commonwealth on March
12,
1968,
and was elected to membership of the United Nations by
acclamation on April
24.
Betwecn
1957
and
1066
eleven Common-
wealth countries in Africa, peopled by less sophisticated inhabitants,
had preceded Mauritius along the same road. Why did Mauritius
lag behind? Only by outlining some
of
the special problems affect-
ing Mauritius can this question be answered. Such an outline, albeit
inadequate to portray a complex sccne, will also help to explain the
peculiar features of the independence constitution.
I.
BACKGROUND
Mauritius is small, remote and overpopulated. Its economy is
seriously vulnerable to fluctuations in world commodity prices.
Intricate communal problems have stunted the growth of national
consciousness and have too often dominated political controversy in
modern times. In many developing countries some
of
these difficul-
ties are present in a more acute form; but the Mauritian blend is
unique.
Geography has been unkind to Mauritius. The island lies far out
in the Indian Ocean, more than
500
miles to the east of Madagascar.
Together with Rodrigues, a smaller island another
360
miles
to
the
1
There
ie
no
standard
work
on
Mauritius, and next to nothing
has
bcen
published on the fascinating political contortions
of
the last few years; the
writer is obligcd to resist any temptation to fill this gap. General historical
accounts can be found in
P.
J.
Barnwell and
A.
Toussaint.
A
Short History
of
Mauritius
(1949)
and Auguste Toussaint,
Historg
of
the Indian Ocean
(1966).
Detailed factual information
is
collected in the
Annual Reports
(H.W.S.O.);
the
latent is for
1966.
Burton
Benedict,
Mauritius: Problems
of
u
Plural Society
(1965)
is
a
good
short
survey
of
the main contemporary issues.
601
\‘or,.
31
21
602
THE
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW
VOL.
31
east,' it has an area of 760 square miles
3;
the islands are frequently
smitten by cyclones.
Unfortunately, the population is now more than 800,000, an
extraordinary figure for a tiny agricultural country, and despite
a
recent decline in the birth-rate it may well exceed two millions by
the end of the century.d The soil is fertile, but no mineral resources
have yet been discovered, and the economy is overwhelmingly
dependent on sugar, which accounts for 97 per cent. of the country's
exports. The sugar industry in Mauritius is highly efficient. But
the present world market price of sugar does not even cover the cost
of production. The standard of living, still significantly higher than
in the large majority of African and Asian countries, has been main-
tained by virtue of the Commonwealth Sugar Agreement, under
which two-thirds of the sugar crop is sold, largely to the United
Kingdom, at
a
high price.5 Unemployment and underemployment
are rife; some progress has been made towards diversification
of
the economy by the development of light industry, tourism and tea
production, but there are too few jobs to provide for the growing
body of school-leavers.6 Foreign investment and international aid
are sorely needed; they are also sorely needed by a great number
of competitors. Emigration is acting as
a
palliative to the problem
of over-population; but the Mauritians who leave tend to be those
with specialised skills whom the country can ill afford to lose.
Shortly before independence Mauritius received from the United
Kingdom a substantial grant of budgetary aid; this was the first
occasion on which Mauritius had received direct aid for such a
purpose.
Communal problems in Mauritius, though undoubtedly serious, are
not necessarily desperate. Mauritius has no long history of bloody
inter-communal disorders-the rioting betwecn Muslims and Creoles
early in
1068,
resulting in twenty-seven deaths, was unprecedented-
or
residential segregation
;
nor is there an indigenous population
outnumbered by immigrants of
a
different race
or
culture. The only
important indigenous inhabitant was the dodo. The Dutch, fitful
2
Rodriguey,, little
known
to the ytside Korld and difficult
to
reach (see Quentin
Keynes,
Islaiid
of
the
Dodo (1956)
100
Natwnal Geographic Magazine
77.
93,
99,
1022104),
produces livestock and vegetahles. Till independence it
RRS
administered
as
a
dependency of Mauritius. For Rodriguan sepamtism, eee
pp.
612,
613,
622,
post.
3
Mauritius (with Rodrigues)
also
has two remote island dependencies, Agalega
and
Cargados
Carajos.
A
formcr dependency, the Chagos Archipelago,
was
detached in
19665;
see
p.
6W.
post.
See generally, Sir Robert Scott,
Limuria:
the
Lesser
Dcpendencies
of
Mauritius
(1964);
F.
D.
Ommaney,
The
Shoals
of
Capricorn
(1952).
4
Cf.
Richard Titmuss and Brian Abel-Smith,
Social Policies and Population
Growth
in Mauritius
(1961),
Chap.
3.
The guess made in the text above is
perhaps
a
conservative estimate.
5
€47
10s.
a ton in
1968,
well over three times the
world
market price at thc time
of
independence.
6
For
a
comprehensive analysis of the basic problems, see
J.
E.
Meade,
The
Economzc and Social Structure
of
Mauritius
(1961).
To continue reading
Request your trial