Protection from deprivation of property

16. 1. No property of any description shall be compulsorily taken possession of, and no interest in or right over property of any description shall be compulsorily acquired, except by or under the authority of a written law and where provision applying to that acquisition or taking of possession is made by a written law -

a. prescribing the principles on which and the manner in which compensation therefor is to be determined and given; and

b. giving to any person claiming such compensation a right or access, either directly or by way of appeal, for the determination of his interest in or right over the property and the amount of compensation, to the High Court.

2. Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of this section -

a. to the extent that the law in question makes provision for the taking of possession or acquisition of any property -

i. in satisfaction of any tax, duty, rate, cess or other impost;

ii. by way of penalty for breach of the law of forfeiture in consequence of a breach of the law;

iii. as an incident of a lease, tenancy, mortgage, charge, bill of sale, pledge, contract, grant, permission or license;

iv. in the execution of judgments or orders of a court in proceedings for the determination of civil rights or obligations;

v. in circumstances where it is reasonably necessity so to do because the property is in a dangerous state o injurious to the health of human beings, animals or plants;

vi. in consequence of any law with respect to the limitation of actions; or

vii. for so long only as may be necessary for the purposes of any examination, investigation, trial or inquiry or, in the case of land, for the purposes of the carrying out thereon of work of soil conservation or the conservation of other natural resources o work relating to agricultural development or improvement; or

b. to the exent that the law in question makes provision for the taking of possession or acquisition of -

i. enemy property;

ii. property of a deceased person, a person of unsound mind or a person who has not attained the age of twenty-one years, for the purpose of its administration for the benefit of the persons entitled to the beneficial interest therein;

iii. property of a person adjudged insolvent or a body corporate in liquidation, for the purpose of its administration for the benefit of the creditors of the insolvent person or body corporate and, subject thereto, for the benefit of other persons entitled to the beneficial interest in the property; or

iv. property subject to a trust, for the purpose of vesting the property in persons appointed as trustees under the instrument creating the trust or by a court or, by order of a court, for the purpose of giving effect to the trust.

3. Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of this section to the extent that the law in question makes provision for the orderly marketing or production or growth or extraction of any agricultural product or mineral or any article or thing prepared for market or manufactured therefor or for the reasonable restriction of the use of any property in the interest of safeguarding the interests of others or the protection of tenants, licensees or others having rights in or over such property.

4. Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of this section to the extent that the law in question makes provision of the compulsory taking possession in the public interest of any property, or the compulsory acquisition in the public interest of any interest in or right over property, where that property, interest or right is held by a body corporate established directly by law for public purposes in which no monies have been invested other than monies provided by parliament or by any Legislature established for the former Colony of Barbados.