The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), established in 2001, and its full acceptance in Trinidad Tobago by the legal fraternity, still remains a burning issue that the leadership elite finds itself refusing or unable to deal with.
The irony of the situation is clear to all because Trinidad and Tobago remains the headquarters of the Court but still stubbornly refuses to accept the Court as its final Court of Appeal in criminal and civil matters. It has, however, accepted its original and exclusive jurisdiction to settle disputes between Caribbean Community states (CARICOM) by virtue of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community.
Our legal fraternity had no difficulty in finding the time, the will and the determination to deal assiduously with the important issue of the removal of the Chief Justice from office. However, they remain as silent as the grave and mired in inaction and paralysis on the very vital and fundamental issue of accepting the CCJ as our Court of final appeal.
As a consequence, to date, they remain comfortable in the status quo and show an indifference and unwillingness to engage in an organised, open and honest, frank and respectful debate on the issue. However, the debate is needed to advance the matter and possibly precipitate action on the part of the relevant authorities and stakeholders.
In the Guardian newspaper dated 5 July 2019, captioned “Jamadar; Lack
of trust stalls CCJ as T&T’s final court”, the Learned Justice remarked that the “unwillingness of citizens to support moves to make the CCJ this country’s final appellate court is directly linked to a lack of trust and confidence in the local judiciary”.
He added: “… solutions are needed to be found … The real question I think is really, how do we construct or reconstruct a Judiciary that has necessary all the values in a democratic society?”
I do not disagree with the opinion of the Learned Judge, but citizens, especially critical thinkers, when dealing with this issue, must avoid the dangerous, self-deceiving and self-defeating approach of equating the situation of the CCJ with that of the local judiciary. In fact, the steps
and measures taken to insulate the CCJ from external influences, and to guarantee its independence, impartiality and transparency, can be used to improve the operations of the local judiciary.
On 8 July 2019, the Guardian also published an article by Dr Rajendra
Ramlogan titled “The CCJ: Future of Justice in the Caribbean?” I agree with his comment that “the portents are good for the CCJ”, but contrary to his view, I believe that the CCJ has already evolved into a court we can truly trust. It is now up to us to make the transition to maturity by accepting this objective reality.
The learned professor also made the point that “there is the normal emotional cry that adherence to the institution of the Privy Council represents an embracing of the vestiges of colonialism. This is a puerile argument which equates independence with the rejection of all institutions, good or bad, that formed part of our colonial history.”
I must warn against a dismissive approach when dealing with this view.
We must not undervalue the drive for independence, self-reliance and self-determination of individuals, societies and countries. Self-determination and self-reliance are imperatives of any country or person. Even the lower animals must be self-reliant in order to exist and survive.
In fact, the substantial majority of persons and countries formerly under colonial rule see it as a sign and symbol of their maturity when they achieve independence, self-reliance and the right to self-determination.
The Hugh Wooding Commission set up by the Eric Williams government, and which submitted its recommendations in 1974, put this view in proper perspective when it referred to “the urgency to be independent – to replace the monarchy with a Republic, to control our economy, to seize what is described as ‘the commanding heights’ in our society, to be in authority in Church and State, to determine our own destiny and to ensure that decisions affecting the people of Trinidad and Tobago are made, so far as it is at all possible, by the people of Trinidad and Tobago in Trinidad and Tobago (my emphasis)”.
I am of the view that having the CCJ as our final court of appeal in civil and criminal matters ensures that decisions on legal issues affecting our citizens will be dealt with by eminent and competent judges selected from the Caribbean and other countries of the Commonwealth.
We must find a way to make this positive step possible. We must not procrastinate, marinating in our fears, timidity, insecurity, complacency and self-interest.
Instead, we must act before future circumstances embarrass us if steps are taken by the Privy Council (PC) to terminate this facility. Lord Phillips, a judge of the PC, was reported in the Financial Times of London, on 21 September 2009, in an article in connection with the issue, as saying he was searching for ways to curb the “disproportionate” time he and his fellow justices spent hearing legal appeals from independent Commonwealth countries to the PC in London.
He is reported to have stated further that, in an ideal world, Commonwealth countries would stop using the PC and set up their own final courts of appeal.
The article further stated that from a Court hearing appeals from India, Canada and Australia and a host of other courts, it has been reduced to a shadow of its former self, now dealing with appeals from 14 countries (largely in the Caribbean) and 16 other jurisdictions.
Barbados, Belize, Dominica and Guyana are the only countries from the Anglophone Caribbean that currently use the CCJ as a court of last resort in criminal and civil matters since it began its operations on the 16 April 2005. The leadership of these countries took this step because, among other things, they viewed the Court as strengthening the regional integration process that began with the signing of the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA) Treaty in Barbados in 1967.
There are numerous articles online dealing with the issue of the CCJ. I urge individual members of the legal profession and the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to show an interest in this issue of vital importance to our society and the Caribbean integration movement and to educate themselves on the issue.
The Caribbean governments took the transformative step of establishing the West Indian Legal Education Programme in order to prepare our societies to take this mature and important step towards achieving final independence, self-reliance and self-determination. It is now almost 19 years since the establishment of the CCJ, almost 53 years since CARIFTA,
almost 46 years since the recommendations of the Wooding Constitution
Commission and almost 58 years since our independence.
We are still engaged in developing the proper framework for the transformation of the West Indian Legal System, but this must not prevent us from making this bold move now.
Accordingly, I believe that it is now proper, appropriate and necessary to call on the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies, the Hugh Wooding Law School, the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, the Criminal Bar Association of Trinidad and Tobago and the Assembly of Southern Lawyers of Trinidad and Tobago (by virtue of its substantial membership of West Indian trained attorneys at law) as the products of this transformative process, to undertake their bounden duty to provide the dynamic and initiative for this process to be completed.
In so doing, they will be playing a fundamental role in the realization of this lofty goal of the movement for final independence and regional integration.