The dawn of the Caribbean Court of Justice

wilfred elrington

Day one of Belize’s formal transition to the Caribbean Court of Justice as its final Court of Appeal was ushered in without fanfare. In fact, it was eclipsed by the shooting of P.M. Barrow’s law partner, the reshuffling of his cabinet and the launch of government’s Restore Belize initiative. On Tuesday, News Five caught up with Wilfred Elrington in Belmopan as he ended his tenure as Attorney General. Elrington says the country was prepared to adopt a new judicial system which replaces the use of the Privy Council in England.

Wilfred Elrington, Former Attorney General

“Belize has the capacity to make the CCJ work quite effectively and I personally am one of those persons who advocated for the establishment of the CCJ.  I think it’s certainly overdue that we have our own final Court of Appeal in Belize, in the region and I think it‘s a good move and we do have the capacity to work with it quite efficiently and effectively.

There has been much talk about the advantages of this particular change.  Are there any setbacks, any foreseeable disadvantages that come along with adopting a new final judicial system for Belize?

Wilfred Elrington

“I can’t think of no disadvantage really.  One of the big advantages of the court is that the court is prepared to come here and to hear the cases right here and I think our local attorneys are going to feel less inhibited in appearing before it and I think it might even be less expensive than in fact having to go to the Privy Council in London.  I like the idea of having our own final Court of Appeal.  I don’t think that the people in England and I’m certain that they have nothing over our own judiciary in terms of mental, intellectual ability and I don’t think they have them out either in terms of integrity.  So I can see no negative, only positive for Belize.”

Speaking on the issue of the litigation processes between the Government of Belize and Lord Michael Ashcroft, There has also been talk that the litigation process had to have been expedited because of the fact that Belize is now functioning under the Caribbean Court of Justice.  Will that have any bearing on the cases that are pending?

Wilfred Elrington

“Those cases that are pending before the new CCJ came into operation and that got permission from the Privy Council for hearing at the Privy Council will be heard in the Privy Council.  New cases to my mind will ultimately go to the Caribbean Court of Justice but all the old cases that were already in stream that had gotten permission from the Court of Appeal to go to the Privy Council will in fact be heard by the Privy Council.  So I can’t see any difficulty in dealing with the cases involving Ashcroft neither can I see any prejudice.  It’s going to go on as usual except that the venue is going to change from the Privy Council to our own Caribbean Court of Justice.”

We also note that the CARICOM Secretariat today welcomed Belize’s entry into the CCJ.