Law lecturer lauds PM

HUGH Wooding Law School lecturer, Michael Theodore, thinks there may be a case for constitutional reform, but meanwhile has supported the actions of Prime Minister Patrick Manning in the controversy over the Chief Justice. He was addressing a public meeting of the Constitutional Reform Forum (CRF) Thursday at the National Library.

Theodore said that to remove a CJ, a Prime Minister must complain to the President who in accordance with the advice of the PM will set up a tribunal to investigate, with these findings then going to the UK-based Privy Council. Theodore recalled the case of “Rees versus Crane,” in which the Privy Council criticised the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) for complaining directly to the President without first giving Justice Crane a chance to reply. He noted the suggestions of two past committees on constitutional reform.

The 1974 Hugh Wooding Commission had urged that the tribunal’s report end up at the President to decide ones fate, cutting out the Privy Council. The Sir Isaac Hyatali Commission had urged that the PM not be the one to appoint the tribunal. In the present case, Theodore said Manning had acted correctly and constitutionally in first talking to the CJ about allegations of impropriety being made against the CJ. That, he said, was no breach of the separation of powers. Looking forward, he said that constitutional reform may be required in order to address the controversy over the CJ.  But he urged that any reform must not be rushed but done over three or four years.