Court of sovereignty

IT IS good news that by November next the Caribbean Court of Justice will be in operation. The Court would not only be the final Court of Appeal for most of the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean but, we are told, it would also serve as an international court to adjudicate on issues relating to the Treaty of Chaguaramas which established Caricom.

We welcome the CCJ which has been long in coming. It means that at last our region would have a final appellate court of our own making, manned by our own judges having a personal knowledge of the nature of our own societies, their history, culture, concerns and peculiar mores. The launching of the CCJ would also result in the severing of the final link with our colonial past, abandonment of the British Privy Council which was not only an embarrassment to our sovereignty but a source of annoyance by its attempts to foist its abolitionist views upon us. In any case, it was always too much to expect the English Law Lords, sitting in far-off London and having no experience of our region, to appreciate the particular dynamics of our developing societies. In certain aspects of the law, the Privy Council may have served our region usefully, but the fact is that courts and judges must have a close and insightful relationship with the societies they serve and be sensitive to their needs and anxieties.

It is more than time for us to be in control of our own jurisprudence, creating our own legal and judicial traditions. Soon the task of recruiting judges for the CCJ will begin. According to Task Force coordinator, Sheldon McDonald, a Jamaican attorney based at Caricom headquarters in Guyana, the 11-member regional judicial services commission would be established by May 11 and would immediately begin engaging judges to have the Court operational by next November.

One question remains, will the UNC Opposition, in their present mode of non-cooperation, support the legislation required to establish the court? According to Attorney General Glenda Morean-Phillip the motion would need a special majority in Parliament and, therefore, the support of the Opposition. The AG was optimistic as she pointed out: "This is part of their own process, a process that was actually continued during the UNC term in office. I don't think this would be an apt case for them to say, 'constitutional reform' before the court is established. So we would look forward to their cooperation in this effort." Of course, we would have to wait and see. We do not expect that the UNC, having played a very active part in the groundwork for setting up the CCJ while they were in government, would now want to reject the work that they themselves have done. Also, in terms of policy and philosophy, the UNC have been strong proponents of the Court and it would be a serious act of reneging and a heavy blow to their credibility if they should now turn against the motion for whatever reason.

The Caricom states can boast of judicial systems and practice comparable with the best in the world. We have produced judges and jurists of eminent stature and have reached a level of maturity in legal matters that should make us quite confident that our own Caribbean Court of Justice would be a tribunal of the highest quality, one that would also serve to strengthen the traditional ties that bind our countries and, in fact, become an active agent in our on-going integration. The CCJ will also mark another major milestone in the history of our region, the full attainment of our sovereignty.