September 2016


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The subject of a regional court for the Commonwealth Caribbean is one that has never truly gone underground and continues to generate much interest. It has occupied the minds of scholars, practitioners, politicians and the general public for well over 50 years. The matter is inextricably bound up with concerns of sovereignty, self-sufficiency and maturity in the political and legal spheres.

The evolution of this shared court mirrors the struggle for greater political and economic regional cooperation. The vibrancy and sometimes emotive character of the debate has much to do with the spectre of colonialism as former subjugated colonies strive to find their way in an often hostile world within the environment of a regionalism, resources and confidence.

The Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies has been a staunch proponent of this symbolic, but yet pragmatic and necessary initiative toward a final regional court, a topic firmly entrenched in its syllabus. In 2000, the Faculty produced a publication entitled Caribbean Justice for All – The Case for a Regional Caribbean Court (Rose-Marie Antoine, David Berry and Hugh Rawlins), which laid out the arguments toward what is now the Caribbean Court of Justice (the CCJ) firmly and lucidly.

Five years later, in 2005, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) took a big step, in what lead Prime Minister for the CCJ, Dr. Kenny D Anthony, described as a “Leap toward Enlightenment” when the CCJ was inaugurated in Trinidad and Tobago. The court has jurisdiction to resolve regional trade disputes under the economic grouping known as the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, and has an appellate jurisdiction to hear appeals from domestic courts. The new Court boasted a unique funding methodology and an independent Judicial Services Commission to appoint judges of unimpeachable calibre. In 2015, at the 10 year anniversary of the CCJ, there was still some work to be done to persuade the remaining CARICOM countries to move in the direction of accession. The Faculty of Law was encouraged when it found new and enthusiastic friends, willing to boldly promote the CCJ. These new friends, the Canadian Embassy, the OAS, the ILO and the UNDP, came together in a historic initiative to host a highly successful Symposium featuring six prominent jurists from the Caribbean and the wider Commonwealth region. These were Reginald Armour SC, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Law Association, Justice the Hon. Justice Logan RFD of Australia, Professor Benoît Pelletier, OQ, AD of Canada, former judge Denys Barrow of Belize and Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, Dean of the Faculty of Law, UWI.

A symposium was attended by more than 100 participants, drawn from the judiciary, the Bar, academia, the private sector and civil society, and also included, notably, the Acting President of Trinidad and Tobago, The Honourable Timothy Hamel-Smith, The Honourable Chief Justice Ivor Archie, Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Justice, Senator the Honourable Emmanuel George, and CCJ President, The Right Honourable Sir Dennis Byron.

The forum provided the opportunity, not only to promote the appellate jurisdiction of the Court, but to demonstrate that the region was not alone in its timidity in letting go of the shackles of legal subservience. Thus, the audience benefitted from the similar experiences of other Commonwealth countries such as Canada and Australia, through the presentations of eminent jurists from those countries, comparing it with our own. For example, Professor Benoit Peltier, a constitutional expert from Canada, spoke on the evolution of the role of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC), and explained how the SCC’s establishment had signalled the end of what he referred to as “judicial colonialism” and the development of judicial independence.

The event also presented an important opportunity for the speakers to assess the substantive work of this eminent Court, in particular the presentations by Barrow and Antoine. Former Justice Denys Barrow CBE, SC focused on the court’s contribution in relation to international law and in particular, from ILO sources. He indicated that the CCJ was fully in step with developments in international law.

Dean Antoine, assessed the CCJ’s jurisprudence, noting its demonstrable adherence to principles of independence, integrity and fairness and its adoption of universally entrenched norms of sound judicial decision-making and judicial traditions within the expected parameters of a superior court. She identified important, diverse and often path-breaking cases both in the CCJ’s original jurisdiction and its appellate jurisdiction, wading into public law and commercial law. Antoine described the CCJ as a “premier legal institution and an independent, informed judicial body in step with international juridical mores, firmly grounded in its environment and shaping appropriately the destiny of Caribbean peoples”. One of the pivotal moments at the symposium came when Reginald Armour SC, the panellist representing the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, for the first time confirmed publicly his organisation’s support for the accession to the CCJ by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. The Institute of International Relations provided a home for a publication, allowing the rich contributions of this Symposium to be preserved. The Institute also shared its own important vision of the place of the CCJ in the regional political and social framework, examining it within the widening sphere of regional courts globally, as seen in the final paper that centers the volume, added post Symposium by Dr. Michelle Scobie of the Institute.

It is hoped that this contribution - Vol. 4, No. 1, June 2016, available on the CJIRD journal’s website link: http://journals.sta.uwi.edu/iir , will serve as a vital resource document for stakeholders and for researchers on the subject and help to elevate the development of the Commonwealth Caribbean.