Caribbean Court of Justice
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The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is an institution in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The Court was created in 2003 under the 2001 Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The treaty is an instrument for the establishment of the Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME) and was signed by the various CARICOM heads of government.
The Caribbean Court of Justice within the next two years will serve two main roles.
- To act as a court that can handle trade disputes amongst CARICOM member states (Original Jurisdiction).
- A Court that will eventually serve as a court of final appeal, replacing the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.
The court was first proposed in 1970. The official inauguration was held in Queen's Hall - Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday 16 April 2005. As of 2005 the court's appellate jurisdiction is limited to only the CARICOM states of Barbados and Guyana. The first case heard by the CCJ was in August 2005 [1] the case was to settle a 'decade-long' libel court case from Barbados.
The reasons given for the establishment of a supreme appellate court are many and varied, including a perceived regional disenfranchisement with the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Controversy surrounding the establishment of this court corresponds to two major events that made the Privy Council unpopular in the Caribbean region. One reason was the refusal of the Privy Council to allow capital punishment for persons convicted of murder to be practiced in Caribbean states, even where a majority of the people in the relevant jurisdictions supported the death penalty. [2], [3], [4] The second main issue was a case involving the government of Antigua and Barbuda, where the Privy Council handed out a radio license to a company on behalf of the aforementioned government without its approval or consent. The British-based court has been perceived as having too much power in the Caribbean region. Several politicians also lamented that the Caribbean nations are the only remaining region of the old British Empire still to rely on the British court system for appeals.
It is expected that the two Caribbean states that will have the most difficulty accessing the court will be Suriname which has a Dutch-based legal system, and Haiti which has a French-based legal system. All other member states have British-based legal systems with the CCJ itself being predominantly modeled after the British system.
Contents |
[edit] Judges
As of September 24th 2006:
| Year | State | Members of the Caribbean Court of Justice | President | Judge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–present |  |
Michael de la Bastide | 2005–present | |
| 2005–present | |
Rolston Nelson | 2005–present | |
| 2005–present |  |
Duke Pollard | 2005–present | |
| 2005–present |  |
Adrian Saunders | 2005–present | |
| 2005–present | |
Désirée Bernard | 2005–present | |
| 2005–present |  |
David Hayton | 2005–present | |
| 2005–present |  |
Jacob Wit | 2005–present |
[edit] References
- OECS won't be joining CCJ soon - September 29, 2005: Barbados Daily NationNews
- SURINAME TO JOIN CCJ - October 6th, 2005: Barbados Advocate News
[edit] External link
[edit] Further reading
Vannina Ettori, "A Comparative Analysis of the Canadian and Caribbean Progressions Toward Judicial Independence: Perspectives on the Caribbean Court of Justice" 2002 Caribbean Law Review 100
