scholarly journals The Caribbean Court of Justice: A New Judicial Experience

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Désirée P. Bernard
Keyword(s):  
Legal Profession ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Privy Council ◽  
Appellate Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Commonwealth Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice ◽  
Court Of Appeal

The inauguration of the Caribbean Court of Justice in April 2005 represented the culmination of aspirations in earlier years to establish a court of last resort for the Caribbean Region to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (The Privy Council) which was and still is for most Commonwealth Caribbean jurisdictions, the final court. These aspirations were endorsed by the legal profession through the Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations (OCCBA) over thirty years ago, although the idea of such a court was not an original one having been contemplated early in the last century. The court was envisaged as a Caribbean Court of Appeal with an appellate jurisdiction hearing appeals from domestic appellate courts and an original jurisdiction to interpret regional treaties.

The Caribbean Court of Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Caserta ◽  
Mikael Rask Madsen
Keyword(s):  
Privy Council ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Community Law ◽  
Caribbean Community ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Sociopolitical Context ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice ◽  
Criminal Matters ◽  
Court Of Appeal

This chapter analyzes the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the creation of which was regarded as the culmination of the Caribbean’s long and protracted process toward independence from its former colonizers. Formally, the CCJ was instantaneously empowered to hear cases involving Caribbean Community law (Community law). The CCJ was also empowered to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) in London—a last court of appeal for civil and criminal cases from the Caribbean and the most visible remnant of the British Empire’s former rule. The CCJ’s unique double jurisdiction—original over Community law and appellate over other civil and criminal matters—underscores the complex sociopolitical context and transformation of which it is a part. Ultimately, the CCJ’s growing authority has increasingly made the Court the institutional intersection for the convergence of these two different paths toward establishing the Caribbean as a legally integrated regional unity.

The Interpretation of Commonwealth Caribbean Constitutions

2020 ◽  
pp. 554-581
Author(s):  
Derek O’Brien
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Conservative Approach ◽  
Privy Council ◽  
Constitutional Order ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Commonwealth Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice ◽  
Interpretive Process

This chapter focuses on the differing approaches of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the Caribbean Court of Justice towards the interpretation of the independence Constitutions of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Critiquing the lack of autochthony and the lack of meaningful public participation in the drafting of the region’s independence Constitutions, a number of influential Caribbean constitutional scholars have advocated a much more judicially creative approach to the interpretation of the region’s constitutions than the more conservative approach that has dominated the JCPC’s more recent jurisprudence. I call the approach advocated by these scholars the holistic approach because it treats the constitution as a whole as greater than the sum of its parts. The Caribbean Court of Justice in two recent judgments on appeals from Barbados and Guyana respectively has now adopted this approach. Notwithstanding its undoubted attraction in terms of resolving some of the deficiencies and flaws in the region’s independence Constitutions, it will be argued that the holistic approach risks undermining not only the whole interpretive process, but also the whole constitutional order.

Advisory Opinion of the Caribbean Court of Justice in Response to a Request from the Caribbean Community (Caribbean Ct. J.)

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 708-738
Author(s):  
Stephen Vasciannie
Keyword(s):  
Advisory Opinion ◽  
Privy Council ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
Caribbean Community ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Municipal Law ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice ◽  
British Colonies ◽  
Court Of Appeal

An Appellate Jurisdiction, which addresses municipal law cases on appeal from countries which accept this jurisdiction. To date, four Caribbean countries—Barbados, Guyana, Belize and Dominica—have accepted the appellate jurisdiction of the Court. The applicable law for each case under the appellate jurisdiction is the national law of the state from which the appeal emanates. The CCJ in its Appellate Jurisdiction is intended to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the final court of appeal for Caribbean countries which were formerly British colonies.

scholarly journals The Appellate Jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice

2020 ◽  
pp. 502-528
Author(s):  
Stephen Vasciannie
Keyword(s):  
Single Market ◽  
The Other ◽  
Privy Council ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Considerable Debate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice ◽  
British Colonies ◽  
Court Of Appeal

Various Caribbean countries have established the Caribbean Court of Justice, and have taken steps to ensure its viability. The Court has two jurisdictions. One of these—the Original Jurisdiction—pertains to disputes arising under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, the constituent treaty of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy. The other jurisdiction—the Appellate Jurisdiction—was intended from the outset to allow the Caribbean Court of Justice to serve as the final court of appeal for all Caribbean countries. The Appellate Jurisdiction, which forms the basis of this chapter, has been the subject of considerable debate. To date, only four Caribbean countries—Barbados, Guyana, Belize and Dominica—have entrusted their final appeals to the new court, with most former British colonies in the region retaining the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for final appeals. What have been the main elements in the long and circuitous debate concerning the Appellate Jurisdiction of the Court? Why have some Caribbean States opted to retain appeals to the Privy Council? And what are the prospects concerning the Appellate Jurisdiction? The chapter considers these issues in light of the passage of more than a decade and a half since Caribbean States signed the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice.

McEwan and Others v. Attorney General of Guyana (C.C.J.)

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-279
Author(s):  
Salvatore Caserta
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Review ◽  
Attorney General ◽  
Public Place ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Commonwealth Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice

On November 13, 2018, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) decided on an appeal coming from Guyana in the case McEwan and Others v. Attorney General of Guyana. With this decision, the CCJ declared unconstitutional Section 153(1)(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act of the Laws of Guyana, which made it a crime for a man to dress in female attire or for a woman to dress in male attire, in a public place, for an improper purpose. In the case, the CCJ also limited the extent to which the colonial “savings clause” present in the constitutions of the Commonwealth Caribbean countries limits the Court's judicial review powers.

The Extended Foundation of the Caribbean Court of Justice between Decolonisation and Globalisation

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-64
Author(s):  
Salvatore Caserta
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
The Other ◽  
Window Of Opportunity ◽  
Privy Council ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
British West Indian ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice

This chapter deals with the extended process of creation of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) arguing that, different from what often stated in the literature, the Court is the institutional crystallisation of two long-enduring movements within the Caribbean legal field. One of these two movements is linked to the development of early regionalism, and ties into the Court’s origins as a regional economic institution aimed at reviving the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM). The other is a movement related to the long-lasting process of Caribbean decolonisation from the United Kingdom, as the CCJ is also intended to be a regional Supreme Court to replace the Privy Council as the apex court of the former British West Indian colonies. The chapter also analyses the window of opportunity leading to the creation of the Court, most notably the clash between different generations of Caribbean legal elites and their own respective disagreements with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on death penalty issues and, more generally, on how to handle the judicial system of the Caribbean countries.

RESILIENCE TECHNIQUES OF INTERNATIONAL COURTS IN TIMES OF RESISTANCE TO INTERNATIONAL LAW

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Salvatore Caserta ◽  
Pola Cebulak
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice

Abstract International courts are increasingly called upon to adjudicate socially divisive disputes. They are therefore exposed to a heightened risk of backlash that questions their authority and impedes the implementation of their judgments. This article puts forward an analytical framework for mapping the resilience techniques used by international courts to counter this growing resistance. Case studies involve the Court of Justice of the European Union, which has been cautious in its stance regarding democratic backsliding in Hungary and Poland, and the Caribbean Court of Justice, which has engaged in legal diplomacy while adjudicating both on the land rights of indigenous groups and on Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) rights. It is argued that, in order to effectively avoid and mitigate backlash, international courts should deploy resilience techniques that go beyond merely exercising their judicial function. The successful deployment of resilience techniques can allow international courts to become significant actors in global governance during a time of crisis for the international liberal order.

International Courts in Latin America and the Caribbean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Caserta
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Regional Politics ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice ◽  
Latin American And Caribbean

The book provides the first in-depth and empirically grounded analysis on the foundations and trajectories of gaining authority of the four Latin American and Caribbean regional economic courts: the Central American Court of Justice (CACJ), the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the Andean Tribunal of Justice (ATJ), and the Mercosur Permanent Review Court (PRC). While these courts were, on their terms, established to build common markets and to enforce trade liberalization, they have often developed bodies of jurisprudence in domains often not directly associated with regional economic integration. The CCJ has been most successful in the area of human and fundamental rights; the CACJ has addressed issues related to the enforcement of the rule of law in national legal arenas and long-standing border disputes between the countries of the region; the ATJ is an island of effective adjudication on intellectual property issues; and the PRC has significantly struggled to receive a significant number of cases to rule upon all together. The particular trajectories of the four Latin American and Caribbean Regional Economic Courts (RECs) suggest that there is no universal formula for success for these institutions and that their operational path is not necessarily a function of their formally delegated competences and/or of the will of the Member States, as it is often argued in mainstream legal and political science literature. Rather, local socio-political contextual factors—such as the historical legacies of a region, the interests and dynamics of socialization of legally and politically situated actors, the nature of national and regional politics, and legal culture—often play a far more decisive role in influencing the direction of RECs during and after their establishment.

The Challenged and Challenging De Facto Authority of the Central American Court of Justice at the Intersection of Pacification, International Law, and Regionalism

2020 ◽  
pp. 178-213
Author(s):  
Salvatore Caserta
Keyword(s):  
Early Years ◽  
Central American ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Integration System ◽  
Member States ◽  
Community Law ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice

This chapter deals with the trajectory of gaining de facto authority of the Central American Court of Justice (CACJ), showing how, different from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), this Court has thus far failed to leave a significant mark in its operational context. In its early years, the Court fared rather well, especially in terms of its capacity to build a system of community law and to address some institutional difficulties of the Central American Integration System (SICA). However, when the Court became involved with several highly political disputes (i.e. a political clash between two former Nicaraguan Presidents and some territorial disputes among its Member States) in the early 2000s, it encountered strong resistance from several actors in its context of operation. As in the analysis of the CCJ, this chapter explains the fluctuation of the CACJ’s authority by looking at the role played by various contextual factors such as the institutional conflicts between the various organs of Central American integration, the highly polarised national politics of some of the Court’s Member States, and the divergent professional interests of the Central American legal elites.

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