Caribbean Court of Justice
Despite the fact that a large majority of Caricom countries have signed on to the Original
Jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) since its establishment on 14 February 2001, only three so far, namely, Barbados, Guyana and Belize have acceded additionally to its Appellate
Jurisdiction. The Original Jurisdiction deals with the interpretation and application of the Treaty which established Caricom, and the Appellate Jurisdiction is meant to take over the role of the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council by being the final court of appeal in both civil and criminal matters The present concept of the Privy Council was established in the UK by the Judicial Committee Act of
1833 for the main purpose of processing final appeals from Commonwealth countries and UK dependent territories. The UK itself does not use the Privy Council as a final court of appeal in the normal civil and criminal cases, as do the commonwealth countries and dependent territories, but has its own final Court of Appeal. This arrangement for Commonwealth countries, including countries of the Caribbean, served a useful purpose. As time went on however, quite a number of countries like Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka,
Malaysia and Singapore, after gaining independent status, established their own final Courts of Appeal and terminated the services of the Privy Council. Most of the independent Caribbean countries are among the last of the original group which still cling on to the apron strings of the Privy Council.
It now seems that in recent times the law lords in the Privy Council are becoming extremely wary of prolonging the services of the Privy Council to Commonwealth countries. In 2009, the President of the UK
Supreme Court, Lord Nicholas Phillips, was quoted in the Financial Times Newspaper as expressing grave concern about the significant amount of time which the Privy Council Law Lords utilize in tending to the appeals of Commonwealth countries. It seems
Jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) since its establishment on 14 February 2001, only three so far, namely, Barbados, Guyana and Belize have acceded additionally to its Appellate
Jurisdiction. The Original Jurisdiction deals with the interpretation and application of the Treaty which established Caricom, and the Appellate Jurisdiction is meant to take over the role of the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council by being the final court of appeal in both civil and criminal matters The present concept of the Privy Council was established in the UK by the Judicial Committee Act of
1833 for the main purpose of processing final appeals from Commonwealth countries and UK dependent territories. The UK itself does not use the Privy Council as a final court of appeal in the normal civil and criminal cases, as do the commonwealth countries and dependent territories, but has its own final Court of Appeal. This arrangement for Commonwealth countries, including countries of the Caribbean, served a useful purpose. As time went on however, quite a number of countries like Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka,
Malaysia and Singapore, after gaining independent status, established their own final Courts of Appeal and terminated the services of the Privy Council. Most of the independent Caribbean countries are among the last of the original group which still cling on to the apron strings of the Privy Council.
It now seems that in recent times the law lords in the Privy Council are becoming extremely wary of prolonging the services of the Privy Council to Commonwealth countries. In 2009, the President of the UK
Supreme Court, Lord Nicholas Phillips, was quoted in the Financial Times Newspaper as expressing grave concern about the significant amount of time which the Privy Council Law Lords utilize in tending to the appeals of Commonwealth countries. It seems