PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC:
THE PRESIDENT-ELECT of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Michael de La Bastide, is to be sworn in as a member of the London-based Privy Council today.
De La Bastide, a former Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago, is one of three Caribbean jurists appointed to the Privy Council. The others are the Chief Justice of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Supreme Court Sir Dennis Byron and Justice Joan Haynes of the Bahamas. De la Bastide was unanimously appointed as CCJ president earlier this month, during the just concluded meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government conference.
The CCJ will replace the Privy Council as the region's final court of appeal. It is due to be inaugurated on November 6 and will be headquartered in Port of Spain.
De La Bastide told Newsday newspaper before his departure that the appointment "is an endorsement of our own ability to staff a final court of our own."
"This appointment will help strengthen the case for the CCJ. It is very positive for the region, it does not diminish my commitment to the CCJ or my conviction that all CARICOM countries ought to accept the CCJ as our final Court of Appeal," he said.
