THE EDITOR, Sir:
DOES BRITAIN have a monopoly on Justice? I have been following the on-going controversy about the Jamaican government's policy to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice as the final court of appeal. And it would appear that the proponents of a referendum on this matter are more concerned with the retention of appeals to the Privy Council than with the legitimacy of the democratic process.
The entire issue is so rife with political overtones that I have no doubt the advocates of a referendum will use the current state of social unrest throughout the island to remind the masses about the "sanctity" of British Justice, and its devotion to law and order. It is not difficult to see that this will be an emotional appeal designed to heighten the fears of the populace about what to expect if they are denied the right to appeal to the Privy Council in England.
There is already a great deal of fear about the establishment of a Caribbean Court of Justice, but this fear seems to be based partly on irrationality, and partly on the fact that many Jamaicans are still bemoaning the fading away of the "good old days". This relentless longing for the "good old days" has hardened into a chronic mindset - the type of mindset that extols the virtues of the British system of justice, and denigrates the Caribbean administration of law and justice.
To question the integrity and capability of the pending Caribbean Court of Appeal is a slap in the face for the many distinguished jurists that the West Indies has produced over the years. The call for a referendum with the hope that the result will block the institution of a Caribbean Court of Justice is to affirm the idea that the British Privy Council has a monopoly on justice - the type of monopoly fondly referred to as the "Queen's Justice". To thumb one's nose at the thought of a Caribbean Court of Justice is the ultimate put down for all people of colour in the Caribbean region.
I am, etc.,
RUPERT JOHNSON
r.b.johnson@sympatico.ca
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
