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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Regional Integration through Law and International Courts – the Interplay between De Jure and De Facto Supranationality in Central America and the Caribbean

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 579-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
SALVATORE CASERTA
Keyword(s):  
Regional Integration ◽  
Central American ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Caribbean Community ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Societal Actors ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice

AbstractThe article proposes an innovative theoretical framework outlining preconditions for Regional International Courts (RICs) to act as engines of supranationality in different institutional and socio-political contexts. In so doing, the article nuances the theoretical approaches to supranationality and supranational adjudication. The article focuses on the Central American Court of Justice (CACJ) and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Both courts have been branded institutional copies of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU); they have even borrowed key jurisprudential principles from the Luxembourg Court with the goal of expanding the reach of Central American and Caribbean Community Laws. Yet, both the CACJ and the CCJ have thus far failed to foster supranationality in their respective systems. This is because the conditions allowing RICs to become engines of integration lie, for the most part, beyond the direct control of the judges, most notably, with other institutional, political, and societal actors, such as national judges, regional organs, legal and political elites, as well as academics. The article thus suggests that RICs can become engines of supranationality only to the extent to which they are supported by a set of institutional, political, and societal pre-conditions allowing for the concrete enforcement of the rulings of the RIC at the regional and national levels.

A COMMENTARY ON THE EARLY DECISIONS OF THE CARIBBEAN COURT OF JUSTICE IN ITS ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

2010 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 761-778
Author(s):  
Adrian D Saunders
Keyword(s):  
The Bahamas ◽  
Caribbean Community ◽  
Anglophone Caribbean ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
British Colonies

The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (‘the RTC’) is an attempt on the part of a group of Caribbean States to respond in a collective manner to the pressing challenges posed by the forces of globalization and liberalization. The RTC seeks, inter alia, to deepen regional economic integration through the establishment of a Caribbean Community (‘CARICOM’) including a CARICOM Single Market and Economy (‘CSME’). The States in question—Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago—are for the most part former British colonies that gained their independence in the 1960s and 1970s. The RTC signals yet another important step in the tortuous path taken by these Anglophone Caribbean States ‘to avoid the looming threat of marginalization’1 following the failure in 1962 of the West Indies Federation.2 Significantly, this latest step is being taken side by side with the non English speaking civil law States of Haiti and Suriname thereby adding a new and interesting dimension to the integration process.

CARICOM and its Court of Justice

2008 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 334-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek O'Brien ◽  
S. Foadi
Keyword(s):  
Regional Integration ◽  
Institutional Structure ◽  
Single Market ◽  
Caribbean Community ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Caribbean Court Of Justice

The Caribbean Court of Justice, which was inaugurated in April 2005, is possessed of both an appellate and an original jurisdiction. In its original jurisdiction the Court is vested with a compulsory and exclusive power to interpret and apply the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which establishes the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy. This paper explores the Court's original jurisdiction and the role that it could play in promoting regional integration, taking account of the region's history and the institutional structure within which it will be expected to function.

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