The high standard of jurisprudence in Cayman and a longstanding respect for Chief Justice Anthony Smellie, QC, throughout the Caribbean earned the Islands an invitation to the long-awaited opening of the Caribbean Court of Justice in Trinidad and Tobago held last month.
The Cayman Islands was represented by Acting Chief Justice Mme Justice Priya Levers, who attended for the Chief Justice who was away at a conference at the time of the opening of the CCJ.
Speaking to GIS on her return, Mme Justice Levers said: ‘Cayman’s presence at the inauguration attests to the respect the country has earned in the region. Not only are we known for our outstanding jurisprudence, but our Chief Justice is held in high regard throughout the Caribbean.’
Justice Levers says that CARICOM member states were ‘without exception pleased to have a representative from Cayman’s jurisprudence,’ although Cayman, as an associate member of CARICOM, has the Privy Council as its final appellate court
The CCJ, first proposed in 1970 and now finally a reality, is the new regional judicial tribunal established by the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice and will replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It will in effect exercise both an appellate and an original jurisdiction.
The CCJ is an important development for CARICOM’s Single Market and Economy (CSME), providing an authoritative, regional institution to interpret and apply the Treaty of Chagauramas, which is the foundation of the CSME.
The CCJ affords member states of Caricom its own court of last resort for civil and criminal matters giving the region autonomy of judicial determination. It is also anticipated that the CCJ will be instrumental in inspiring confidence in and ensuring voluntary compliance with the laws of the region as laws are interpreted and applied by Judges who have internalised the region’s values, particularly in the context of the CSME.
Speaking at the opening ceremony the CCJ President Mr Justice Michael de la Bastide, TC, of Trinidad and Tobago said the new court has the capacity to fulfil the aspirations of the Caribbean people, and represents both an opportunity and a challenge: ‘The ultimate success of this court will depend on the degree of support which it receives from the people of the region whose interests it is designed to serve.’
Sitting with President de la Bastide on the CCJ are Justices Rolston Nelson of Trinidad and Tobago; Duke E.E. Pollard of Guyana; Adrian Saunders of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Mme Desiree Bernard, CCH, OR of Guyana. Also included in the CCJ are two non-Caribbean jurists, Professor Jacob Wit of the Netherlands, and Professor David Hayton of England. These two will be robed in July this year.
Mme. Justice Levers said the Court is a big step ahead for the Caribbean, adding: ‘Personally, it was a very rewarding experience as I would probably not see another inauguration of a court in my lifetime.’
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