Caribbean Court of Justice

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ or CCtJ; ; ) is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Established in 2005, it is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

The Caribbean Court of Justice has two jurisdictions: an original jurisdiction and an appellate jurisdiction:

In its original jurisdiction, the court interprets and applies the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (which established the Caribbean Community), and is an international court with compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction in respect of the interpretation of the treaty.
In its appellate jurisdiction, the court hears appeals as the court of last resort in both civil and criminal matters from those member states which have ceased to allow appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC). , Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana and St. Lucia have replaced the JCPC's appellate jurisdiction with that of the CCJ.

National referendums undertaken in Antigua & Barbuda (2018), and Grenada (2018) resulted in the majorities of those nations rejecting the switch of final court of appeals from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom to the CCJ. A previous referendum undertaken in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 was also rejected by a majority of voters, although that proposed constitution did not substitute the CCJ for the Privy Council, but rather codified the possibility of doing so via constitutional reform among other proposed changes such as making Saint Vincent and the Grenadines into a republic.

Overview

The CCJ is intended to be a hybrid institution: a municipal court of last resort and an international court vested with original, compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction in respect of the interpretation and application of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. In the exercise of this original jurisdiction, the CCJ discharges the functions of an international tribunal, applying rules of international law in respect of the interpretation and application of the treaty. The CCJ thus performs similarly to the European Court of Justice, EFTA Court, East African Court of Justice, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, the Andean Court of Justice and the International Court of Justice. Thus the appellate jurisdiction of the Court, in particular, could be available to a non-CARICOM Caribbean state or to CARICOM's associate member states.

Unlike some international courts (but similar to others such as the ECJ and EFTA Court), cases between member states, between CARICOM nationals, or between nationals and the state are all justiciable under the CCJ. As a result, CCJ appellate opinions do not shield judges behind a singular and collective

"voice of the court" as the ECJ and the CCJ's original opinions do, This is in keeping with the practice of the ECJ and EFTA Court as international courts.

Comparison with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Initially being created as a replacement for the Privy Council or JCPC, and later being tasked with the original jurisdiction over the interpretation of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, the CCJ replicates certain aspects of the British justice system while being divergent in other ways.

As a result of the JCPC's employment of a large pool of jurists but usage of only a fraction of them, the JCPC has been criticized for the fact that decisions for any one case often depends on the judges called. The possible combinations of judges available means that different decisions can be rendered for very similar fact patterns in cases. thus making the cost of filing an appeal with the JCPC at least ten times greater than filing an appeal with the CCJ.

Although both courts do allow appeals in forma pauperis, waiving filing fees when they are deemed too burdensome on the individual litigant, Regardless of whether or not a visa is required, all litigants would also have to pay for accommodation and any other necessary expenses in the UK for the duration of the litigation. All of this adds up as a very expensive appeals process; one estimate placed the average total cost between US$57,000 and US$87,500. Given the generally low number of appeals coming from the smaller CARICOM states in effect the local courts of appeal are the courts of last resort for the majority of CARICOM litigants who cannot afford to take their appeals to the JCPC and must therefore be satisfied with the judgments of the local courts of appeal. By contrast, the CCJ, in most cases, is a much less expensive option for litigants The CCJ also utilizes the system to conduct hearings electronically, making use of teleconferencing equipment installed in all contracting states. the JCPC has maintained that it is willing to consider sitting outside the UK, but only where it receives an official invitation to do so from the chief judge and the government of the country or territory concerned, and where the full costs of the JCPC (that is airfare, travel, accommodations and other relevant costs) are covered by the hosts, and where there is sufficient work to justify such a visit. Such sufficient work might involve hearing cases from other neighbouring or nearby territories or countries the CCJ is willing to sit in any country within its jurisdiction on a case-by-case basis, if doing so is necessary for evidence to be given in person and where video- or teleconferencing technology proves insufficient for the task and where the litigant may not be able to afford to appear before the seat of the court and thus be unable to adequately present his or her own case. When travelling to another country in its jurisdiction the costs are paid for by the CCJ itself including airfare, accommodations and any other expenses. The hosting state is expected to provide a location for the Court to sit (as with the JCPC) and to provide ground transportation and security for the Court (as with the JCPC). Thus far the CCJ has sat on cases in Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica and in its seat of Trinidad and Tobago.

Types of cases heard

Due to the differences in costs, the JCPC has only been truly practically accessible to certain death row inmates or very wealthy individuals. Under the common law, the right of appeal does not exist for all cases and instead must be specially conferred. This is done consequently as appeals "as of right" and "as of leave" (where leave is required by the local Court of Appeal or the JCPC itself). While Guyana originally abolished appeals to the JCPC in 1970, since adopting the CCJ, appeals to that Court have been exponentially increasing. the Jamaican delegation tabled a proposal on setting up a regional Court of Appeal and the heads further agreed to take action on relinquishing the Privy Council as the Anglophone Caribbean's final appeal court and mandated a committee of CARICOM attorneys-general to further explore the question of the establishment of what was then being called a "Caribbean Court of Appeal". As Duke Pollard, then director of the Caricom Legislative Drafting Facility, wrote in 2000: "the old Treaty of Chaguaramas provided for arbitration in the event of disputes concerning the interpretation and application of the Treaty. Unfortunately, however, the arbitral procedure was never used and serious disputes were never settled, thereby causing the integration movement to be hampered. Moreover, the rights and obligations created by the CSME are so important and extensive, relating to the establishment of economic enterprises, the provision of professional services, the movement of capital, the acquisition of land for the operation of businesses, that there is a clear need to have a permanent, central, regional institution to authoritatively and definitively pronounce on those rights and corresponding obligations. The Caribbean Court of Justice is intended to be such an authoritative institution."

The official inauguration was held in Queen's Hall, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on Saturday 16 April 2005. The first case heard by the CCJ was in August 2005 and was to settle a "decade-long" libel court case from Barbados. Barbados and Guyana acceded to the CCJ's appellate jurisdiction in 2005, with Belize joining them in June 2010, and Dominica in March 2015.

Jurisdictional competition with the Privy Council

The reasons given for the establishment of a supreme appellate court are many and varied, including a perceived regional disenfranchisement from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Controversy surrounding the establishment of this court corresponds to two major events that made the Privy Council unpopular in the Caribbean region.

One reason was the refusal of the Privy Council to allow capital punishment for persons convicted of murder (who had spent more than five years pursuing their various appeal options) to be practiced in Caribbean states, even where a majority of the people in the relevant jurisdictions supported the death penalty. In the 1993 case of Pratt v Attorney General of Jamaica, the Privy Council held that persons imprisoned on death row for more than five years should have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
The second main issue was a case in Antigua and Barbuda, Observer Publications v Matthew, where the Privy Council ruled that the government had acted unlawfully in refusing to consider an application for a broadcast radio station licence. Until the ruling, radio station licences had only been issued to members of the prime minister's family.

The British-based court has been perceived as having too much power in the Caribbean region. Several politicians also lamented that the Caribbean nations are the only remaining region of the former British Empire still to rely on the British court system for appeals.

Support from the British legal establishment for the CCJ over the JCPC for the Caribbean

Paradoxically, even as some within the Caribbean oppose switching from the Privy Council to the CCJ over fears of lessened impartiality by CCJ judges not as far removed from the region as the Privy Council judges, senior British legal figures (often members of the JCPC itself) have expressed support for a regional court for the Caribbean. As far back as 1828, the man responsible for remodelling the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Lord Brougham, had raised the issue of removing colonies from the Privy Council's jurisdiction. He opined that due to the distance of the colonies from the UK and the immense variety of matters arising from them which would be foreign to British habits, that any court in the UK would be extremely inadequate for the colonies.

In October 2009, Lord Gifford at a reception in Kingston, Jamaica, again expressed support for the replacement of the Privy Council by the CCJ. Gifford noted that the CCJ would be more accessible, affordable and provide a better quality of justice for Jamaicans and other former British colonies in the Caribbean than the Privy Council. Gifford expressed support for Phillips' earlier comments, and hoped that they would serve to stir Jamaica and other Caribbean states to leave the Privy Council and join the CCJ. Gifford also said that his arguments in support of the CCJ were strictly practical and not based on the Privy Council's composition or being a "colonial relic".

Thus it would seems that for at least some of members of the JCPC, geographical and psychological distance (often raised as necessary for greater objectivity and impartiality) does not seem to be an issue and what is more important is the need for the Caribbean (and other Commonwealth countries) to take care of its own affairs. In fact, the Privy Council has often been willing to accept findings by Caribbean courts on local matters because they recognize that such courts are more familiar with Caribbean matters.

As of :

{| class="wikitable"

!State!!Members of the Court!!President!!Judge

| || Hon. Winston Charles Anderson ||2025– ||2010–

| || Hon. Maureen Rajnauth-Lee || ||2015–

| || Hon. Denys Barrow || ||2017–

| || Hon. Peter Jamadar || ||2019–

| || Hon. Chantal Ononaiwu || ||2024–

|/ || Hon. Chile Eboe-Osuji || ||2025–

| || Hon. Arif Bulkan || ||2025–

Past Judges:

{| class="wikitable"

!State!!Members of the Court!!President!!Judge

| || Hon. Michael de la Bastide ||2005–2011||

| || Hon. Duke Pollard || ||2005–2010

| || Hon. Désirée Bernard || ||2005–2014

| || Hon. Rolston Nelson || ||2005–2017

| || Rt Hon. Sir Dennis Byron ||2011–2018||

| || Hon. David Hayton || ||2005–2019

| || Hon. Jacob Wit || ||2005–2023

| || Hon. Andrew Burgess || ||2019–2025

| || Hon. Adrian Saunders ||2018–2025 ||2005–2025

President

The President of the CCJ is appointed or removed by the qualified super majority vote of three-quarters of the Contracting Parties on the recommendation of the RJLSC. The commission is composed of the following persons: the President of the Court who is also the chairman of the commission; two persons nominated jointly by the Organisation of the Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Association (OCCBA) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Bar Association; one chairman of the Judicial Services Commission of a contracting state selected in rotation in the English alphabetical order for a period of three years; the Chairman of a Public Service Commission of a contracting state selected in rotation in the reverse English alphabetical order for a period of three years; two persons from civil society nominated jointly by the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community and the Director General of the OECS for a period of three years following consultations with regional non-governmental organisations; two distinguished jurists nominated jointly by the Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies, the Deans of the Faculties of Law of any of the contracting states and the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education; and two persons nominated jointly by the Bar or Law Associations of the Contracting Parties.

The CCJ Trust Fund is itself administered by a board of trustees drawn from regional entities, many of which are independent of the influence of the governments of member states and represent both private and public interests.

CCJ Trust Fund

The CCJ is funded through an independent Caribbean Court of Justice Trust Fund. The Trust Fund was developed to promote financial independence of the Court from political interference. It was established with roughly US$100 million from initial contributions of the member states by way of loans from the Caribbean Development Bank and other possible lenders.

Select contributions by state were reportedly: Jamaica contributing US$28.7 million, Trinidad and Tobago: USD$31.6 million; Barbados: USD$13.5 million; and Guyana: USD$8.8 million.

This income from the fund is expected to finance the expenditures of the Court (remuneration of judges and other employees, operation of the court) in perpetuity and was calculated on a 10-year projection. This keeps the CCJ from depending on the largesse of governments and keeps it free from their administrative control. The CCJ Trust Fund is administered by a board of trustees drawn from various regional bodies including the following persons or their nominees: the secretary-general of the Caribbean Community; the vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies; the president of the Insurance Association of the Caribbean; the chairman of the Association of Indigenous Banks of the Caribbean; the president of the Caribbean Institute of Chartered Accountants; the president of the Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations; the chairman of the Conference of Heads of the Judiciary of Member States of the Caribbean Community; the president of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce; and the president of the Caribbean Congress of Labour. as it does for the CCJ and in exceptional cases, judgements from the administrative tribunal can be appealed to a Review Committee composed of 5 CCJ Judges. The Belizean general election, 2008 resulted in the UDP taking power; new PM Dean Barrow then tabled the Belize Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Bill, which aside from replacing the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with the CCJ, would also have removed the prohibition against dual citizens being elected to the National Assembly. This time the PUP blocked passage of the constitutional amendment until the dual citizenship provision was removed; after this was done, the bill passed in February 2010. After the passage of the bill, PM Barrow signed the order in May 2010 to abolish appeals to the Privy Council beginning on 1 June that year.

Jamaica

The Jamaica Labour Party opposed granting CCJ full powers on the basis that it was a hanging court. In February 2005, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council declared that the CCJ-related companion bills passed by the Jamaican Parliament in 2004 were unconstitutional and therefore void. The bills would have established the CCJ as the final court of appeal in Jamaica. The Privy Council sided with the appellants, including the Jamaican Council for Human Rights, the Jamaica Labour Party and others, ruling that to establish the CCJ as the country's final appeal court, without it being entrenched in the constitution would undermine the protection given to the Jamaican people by Chapter Seven of the Jamaican constitution. The court concluded that the procedure appropriate for an amendment of an entrenched provision – a referendum – should have been followed.

In January 2012, the new People's National Party government of Jamaica stated that it would be moving to have the CCJ serving in both the original and appellate jurisdictions for Jamaica in time for the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's independence in August. The Jamaica Labour Party, now in opposition, stated it has no issue with the government's plan and seems set to support the move despite strident objections in the past. In February, the foreign affairs minister of Jamaica has also called on Trinidad & Tobago to sign on to the court's appellate jurisdiction to mark that country's 50th anniversary of independence.

In May 2015, the Jamaican House of Representatives approved, with the necessary two-thirds majority, three bills that would end legal appeals to the Privy Council and make the Caribbean Court of Justice as Jamaica's final Court of Appeal. The reform was debated by the Jamaican Senate, however, the government needed the support of at least one opposition senator for the measures to be approved by the required two-thirds majority. The 2016 general election was held without the issue being resolved and resulted in the defeat of the People's National Party government and the election of a new Jamaican Labour Party government, led by Andrew Holness, which opposes implementing the reform without a referendum. Holness's government has promised to hold a referendum on the question.

Saint Lucia

The Parliament of St. Lucia voted to accede to the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ on February 28, 2023.

In April 2012, the then prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced in Parliament that it intended to abolish criminal appeals to the Privy Council in favour of the CCJ and would be tabling legislation to that effect. This follows a review of the situation conducted by the government after a commitment given at the last CARICOM heads of government conference in Suriname in July 2011. Although the announcement had the general support of the Opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley, he expressed disappointment that the government was "only going halfway" by planning to adopt the CCJ for criminal appeals only while retaining the Privy Council for civil matters and cautioned that the move may not be legally possible under the relevant treaties. He said the opposition People's National Movement was fully supportive of adopting the CCJ as a final appeals court on all matters, both civil and criminal. It has been observed however that there is a precedent for the partial abolition of appeals to the Privy Council with Canada ending criminal appeals to the court in 1933 and civil appeals in 1949.

Other states

It is expected that the two Caribbean states that will have the most difficulty accessing the court will be Suriname which has a Dutch-based legal system, and Haiti which has a French-based legal system. All other member states have British-based legal systems with the CCJ itself being predominantly modeled after the British system.

In 2012, following the 54th meeting of the OECS Authority, it was agreed that although all OECS members are committed to acceding to the CCJ's appellate jurisdiction as soon as possible the differing constitutional provisions of each member state meant that simultaneous accession was no longer the preferred option. Dominica and St. Kitts & Nevis are the only members that would be able to take steps to accede to the CCJ's appellate jurisdiction during the course of 2012 as they only require a parliamentary majority to join up to the court. Grenada and Antigua & Barbuda would require referendums before being able to accede, while St. Lucia and St. Vincent & the Grenadines would need a parliamentary majority approving accession along with a judicial resolution.

On 29 January 2015, it was announced that Dominica would become the fourth CARICOM member state to accede to both the original and appellate jurisdictions of the CCJ by early February 2015. This was announced by Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit and follows on the formal approval received in 2014 from the British government that was required in order for Dominica to delink from the Privy Council. Dominica acceded to the CCJ in its appellate jurisdiction on 6 March 2015.

Antigua and Barbuda began taking positive steps towards adopting the CCJ as its final appellate court when it launched a public education campaign on the CCJ in March 2016. The public education campaign and move towards acceding to the CCJ in the appellate jurisdiction has the support of both the Government and the Opposition and is expected to go on for three months ahead of a referendum on the issue likely to be held in June. Additionally three new pieces of legislation would be needed to facilitate the referendum on accession to the appellate jurisdiction – a Constitution Amendment Bill to amend the provisions of the Constitution on the Supreme Court Order, an amendment to the Referendum Act, and an amendment to the Representation of the People Act. Two of these instruments were expected to be submitted to the Parliament for review and voting in late March 2016.

On 20 June 2016, the Parliament of Grenada passed legislation that would allow Grenada to accede to the CCJ's appellate jurisdiction. Before Grenada could accede however the bill needed to be approved by a simple majority in Senate and then be approved by a 2/3 majority referendum. The referendum was held on 24 November that same year, with the amendment voted down, with 56.73% against.

Seat and itinerancy

Article III of the Agreement establishing the CCJ provides that The Seat of the Court shall be in the territory of a Contracting Party as determined by a qualified majority of the Contracting Parties. This followed from the decision of the Contracting Parties for Trinidad and Tobago to serve as the headquarters as was required under Article III of the Agreement establishing the CCJ itself. The Court itself views itinerant sittings as important to ensuring that the accessibility of itself and justice in general to the people it serves of the Caribbean Community. the CCJ's building is open to the public from 8 am to 4 pm weekdays but closed on weekends. Visitors may partake in guided tours of individuals and groups of 20 or less facilitated by the Court. Tours usually last 45 minutes, and include welcome messages, walk throughs the building, courtroom demonstrations, and opportunities to meet the judges and staff of the court. was originally intended as a temporary home for the Court when the Court and RJLSC were moved there in 2006. Prior to that both the Court and the RJLSC operated from another temporary location, the Unit Trust Corporation Financial Centre (UTC), 82 Independence Square, Port of Spain (with the RJLSC beginning operations there from 1 February 2005 and the Court following its inauguration in April 2005). This was the RJLSC's second temporary home as it had previously operated from 63 Tragarete Road, Port of Spain in facilities rented and furnished by the Trinidad and Tobago government. and is expected to house the Caribbean Community Administrative Tribunal (CCAT) which is intended to be an independent institution for resolving employment disputes between employees and CARICOM institutions and their employees (as many of the institutions enjoy immunity from local laws).

Lawfulness of opt-outs and non-reciprocity in regards to the benefits of Community decisions

Lawfulness of opt-outs and the principle of non-reciprocity concerning a decision of the Conference to enlarge the classes of persons entitled to move and work freely in the Community (Request for an Advisory Opinion) [2020] CCJ 1 (OJ) (AO): In a historic judgement, the Court delivered its first ever advisory opinion pursuant to Article 212 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the Court's own Rules. Following the request for such an opinion by the Secretary-General of the Community in March 2019 and oral hearings for the case in October 2019, the Court presented its opinion on 18 March 2020. The case centred on two questions that the Conference of Heads of Governments had agreed to ask of the Court at their 30th Inter-Sessional Meeting in February 2019, wherein it was agreed to allow two Member States to opt-out (for a period of five-year) of a recent decision by the Conference to enlarge the categories of skilled CARICOM nationals entitled free movement in Community to include security guards and agricultural workers. The questions were: (1) whether a Member State can, pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Revised Treaty, lawfully opt out of a decision of the Conference to increase the classes of persons entitled to move and work freely in the Community; and (2) whether the principle of non-reciprocity would enable nationals of the opting out Member States to derive the benefits arising from the decision notwithstanding the opt outs. whether the principle of non-reciprocity would enable nationals of the opting out Member States to still derive the benefits accruing under the enlargement decision in regards to the first question, the Court opined that for the specific opt out referred to it was lawful for the two Member States to request it and for the Conference to grant it as the opt outs did not prejudice the fundamental objective of the Community of freedom of movement for skilled nationals. More generally, the Court noted that opt outs can be granted in relation to any decision of any competent Organ of the Community, but that five conditions have to be accounted for in the effective implementation of any opt out. These five conditions were (i) one or more Member States must first request to opt out of a decision, (ii) the decision must be made by a competent Community Organ, (iii) it is the Conference that must agree to the opt out request for relevant decision, even if that decision was taken by another competent Organ, (iv) the Member State opting out can only opt out of the obligations arising from the decision, and (v) the opt out does not prejudice the fundamental objectives of the Community. In regards to the second question, the Court opined that as the general legal order created by the Revised Treaty requires the universal application of the rights and obligations arising out it; and as the relevant Article of the Treaty (Article 27(4)) derogates from the principle of reciprocity by only specifying that a Member State may opt out of the obligations arising from a decision by a competent Community Organ; and that Article 8 of the Revised Treaty requires each Member State to accord to another Member State treatment no less favourable than that accorded to any other third Member State then generally opt outs are to be treated as a non-reciprocal in nature. As a result, more specifically, the Court advised that this principle of nonreciprocity applies so that nationals of the two Member States opting out of the decision to enlarge the categories for freedom of movement who are security guards and agricultural workers are entitled to enjoy the benefits of that decision. Dr Corlita Babb-Schaefer for The Caribbean Community, Ms Dia Forrester for Grenada, Ms Simone Bullen-Thompson for the Federation of St Kitts & Nevis, Ms Carla Brookes-Harris and Dr Vanessa Moe for the State of Antigua & Barbuda, Ms Donna K Brathwaite, QC for the State of Barbados, Mr Andre Sheckleford for the amicus curiae of the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus and Dr David Berry, Mr Westmin James and Ms Nicole Foster for the amicus curiae of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.

References

Notes

External links

Byron, Dennis, Malcolm, Christopher. Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
Jamaica: Minister and businessmen call for resumption of hanging – Monday, 29 September 2008.