Monarchy of Jamaica - Personification of The State

Personification of The State

Since the independence of Jamaica, the sovereign's role as monarch of Jamaica has been recognised and promoted as separate to his or her position as monarch of the United Kingdom. From the beginning of Queen Elizabeth II's reign onwards, royal symbols in Jamaica were altered or new ones created to make them distinctly Jamaican, such as the augmentation of the Royal Arms of Jamaica in 1962 and Queen's Royal Standard for Jamaica, created in 1962. Today the sovereign is regarded as the personification, or legal personality, of the Jamaican state. Therefore, the state is referred to as Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Jamaica; for example, if a lawsuit is filed against the government, the respondent is formally described as Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Jamaica, or simply Regina. As such, the monarch is the owner of all state lands (called Crown land), buildings and equipment (called Crown held property), state owned companies (called Crown Corporations), and the copyright for all government publications (called Crown copyright), as well as guardianship of foster children (called Crown wards), in his or her position as sovereign, and not as an individual. Government staff are also employed by the monarch, as are the Governor-General, judges, members of the Jamaica Defence Force, police officers, and parliamentarians, who all technically work for the monarch. Many employees of the Crown were once required by law to recite an oath of allegiance to the monarch before taking their posts, in reciprocation to the sovereign's Coronation Oath, wherein he or she promises "to govern the Peoples of ... ... according to their respective laws and customs". Save for that taken by senators, the oaths of allegiance were altered in 2002, removing mention of the monarch.