When Trinidad and Tobago became a republic on August 1, 1976, the country did more than replace a Governor-General with a President. It formally ended the constitutional link to the British Crown as the country’s Head of State and established a republican system of government under a new Constitution.
The Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, enacted as Act No. 4 of 1976, remains the country’s supreme law. It establishes the institutions of the State, defines their powers and relationships, protects fundamental rights and freedoms, and sets out the rules governing how the Constitution itself can be changed.
