Appellate Jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice

• Author: Duke Pollard
• Profession: Director of the CARICOM Legislative Drafting Facility and one of the principal consultants on all development aspects of the Caribbean Court of Justice on which he now sits as a Judge
• Pages: 62-84

The Caribbean Court of Justice

~ 62 ~

Chapter ThREE

Appellate Jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice

APPELLATE JURISDICTION OF THE COURT

The Caribbean Court of Justice is a unique model of a

multinational court enjoying both an original jurisdiction as an

international tribunal and an appellate jurisdiction in respect of

municipal law issues arising in the jurisdictions of Member States

of the Caribbean Community and heard on appeal from national

appellate courts. Like many other Commonwealth countries, the

Member States of the Caribbean Community have determined

to terminate the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy

Council as being inconsistent with their status as sovereign states

and to replace that body with a regional court of last resort.

Such a court, it is believed in official circles, would not only

complete the circle of independence which was being drawn as

early as 1962, but would also constitute the apotheosis of judicial

institutional arrangements contemplated as long ago as 1970

when the Council of Legal Education was established to promote

the development of an indigenous jurisprudence. In this context,

a faculty of law has been established at the University of the

West Indies campus at Cave Hill, Barbados, and the Council of

Legal Education has law schools at Mona (Jamaica), St. Augustine

(Trinidad and Tobago) and Nassau (The Bahamas). The

establishment of another law school at the University of Guyana

is under active consideration. Serious consideration is, therefore,

Appellate Jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice

~ 63 ~

being given to accommodate the growing regional demand for

trained lawyers and to augment the export of regional

professional services, an area in which the Region is perceived

to enjoy a comparative advantage.

Since the Caribbean Court of Justice is a multinational court,

its jurisdiction is set out in a treaty, the Agreement Establishing

the Caribbean Court of Justice, which must be eventually enacted

into law by the Parliaments of Member States subscribing to the

common law system to give it the force of law in their respective

jurisdictions. The situation is different in Suriname and Haiti which

subscribe to the monist doctrine of international law. For the

purpose of accommodating the common law jurisdictions, the

CARICOM Secretariat has elaborated a model Draft Enabling

Bill to implement the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court

of Justice discussed below. The Agreement provides for the

appellate jurisdiction of the Court as set out in Article XXV which

reads as follows:

1. In the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction, the Court is a

superior Court of Record with such jurisdiction and powers as

are conferred on it by this Agreement or by the Constitution or

any other law of a Contracting Party.

2. Appeals shall lie to the Court from decisions of the Court of

Appeal of a Contracting Party as of right in the following cases:

(a) final decisions in civil proceedings when the matter in

dispute or appeal to the Court is of the value of not less

than twenty-five thousand dollars Eastern Caribbean

currency (EC$25,000) or where the appeal involves directly

or indirectly a claim or a question respecting property or a

right of the aforesaid value;

(b) final decisions in proceedings for dissolution or nullity of

marriage;

(c) final decisions in any civil or other proceedings which

involve a question as to the interpretation of the Constitution

of the Contracting Party;

(d) final decisions given in the exercise of the jurisdiction

conferred upon a superior court of a Contracting Party

relating to redress for contravention of the provisions of

the Constitution of a Contracting Party for the protection

of fundamental rights;