OPPOSITION LEADER Edward Seaga yesterday instructed his lawyers to file an application in the Supreme Court seeking declarations that the Bills presented in the Senate last year to establish the proposed Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) are unconstitutional.
Mr. Seaga is contending that the CCJ is unconstitutionally structured as the court can be established or disbanded by a simple majority in each House of Parliament.
"This is in contrast to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal which are both deeply entrenched in the Constitution," Mr. Seaga said yesterday in a press release.
The application is expected to be filed in the Supreme Court Registry this week.
"We feel we have a very good case and it is up to the court to decide," attorney-at-law Abe Dabdoub, one of the lawyers handling the case, said yesterday.
When informed of Mr. Seaga's decision to file an action challenging the constitutionality of the CCJ Bills, Solicitor-General Michael Hylton, Q.C., said yesterday that his department had reviewed the Bills and were advised that they were not unconstitutional. He said that the department would therefore be contesting any action brought.
On December 12 last year, Senator A.J. Nicholson, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, tabled three companion Bills in the Senate to make provisions for appeals to the Caribbean Court of Justice.
The JLP said yesterday that the Bills seek to give the CCJ, inter alia; (1) the power and jurisdiction to determine appeals now brought as of right to the Privy Council; and (2) the right to hear and determine appeals from decisions of the Court of Appeal in Jamaica.
Mr. Seaga is claiming that the CCJ is unconstitutional in that it does not enjoy at least equal status and security of tenure of its judges as does the Court of Appeal, which is entrenched in the Constitution of Jamaica and from which court it proposes to hear appeals.
Mr. R. N. a Henriques, Q.C., instructed by Mr. Dabdoub of Dabdoub Dobdoub and Company, will be presenting arguments to seek the declarations sought by the Opposition Leader.
