Caribbean Court of Justice replaces Privy Council

said musa

It has been under consideration for years but come June first, London’s Privy Council will finally be succeeded by the Caribbean Court of Justice. That’s the word coming from Belmopan today. The proposal was first made in July 2004 by the past administration but it was not able to secure the two thirds majority vote it needed in the House of Representatives. A second attempt was equally unsuccessful.  But now with a super majority in the House, the current administration was able to steer and get approval in February for the Seventh Amendment Act which adopts the CCJ as final court of appeal for the country.  We caught up in court today with the former prime minister Said Musa who told News Five how the system will benefit Belizeans.

Said Musa, Former Prime Minister

“I can say in a general way that I see this as another assertion of our independence.  It’s now a judicial independence, if you like, bringing home the court system finally to our region.  As you know our People’s United Party government fought for this for many years.  We proposed it at least twice in the National Assembly but for other reasons the then opposition which is now the government blocked us because we didn’t have the required two thirds majority to do it.  And that perhaps also explains why there is such few countries that have so far subscribed to the Caribbean Court of Justice because under their constitution they require either a certain majority which the particular government may not have support of at this time or in some, one or two cases I think they may even have to go to referendum to settle the matter.”

Isani Cayetano

“Can you speak to us briefly on how the CCJ operates, for those of us who might not be privy to how this entire process works?”

Said Musa

“Well as you know the court system is such that, let’s start with the Alcalde system at the very bottom and the Magistrates court and then there is the Supreme court where high court cases are heard and you can appeal from the Supreme court to the Court of Appeal which in a sense is also a regional court, except for one or two Belizeans who now sit on that court.  But the Court of Appeal if they are not satisfied with the decision of the Court of Appeal in civil cases you have a right to appeal to now the Caribbean Court of Justice just as you had before with to the Privy Council.  You can now appeal from the Court of Appeal of Belize to the Caribbean Court of Justice and in certain specific cases mentioned, in criminal cases you also have that right to appeal.”

According to Musa, the Caribbean Court of Justice is being funded by a trust established by member countries.  The present seat of the Caribbean Court of Justice is in Port of Spain, Trinidad.  The agreement states that it will operate similar to a circuit court and Belize, at some point, will assume the seat for CCJ. Aside from Belize, Barbados and Guyana have also adopted the CCJ.