Glenda Anderson, Staff Reporter
GROUPS OPPOSED to the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) are to have their day in court when their case is heard in a two-day presentation (December 14 and 15) before the United Kingdom-based Privy Council later this year.
The group, comprising four appellates (the Jamaican Bar Association, the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights (IJCHR), the Jamaica Labour Party and the lobby group Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), will be sending a team headed by Dr. Lloyd Barnett, chairman of the IJCHR, as lead counsel.
IJCHR secretary, Nancy Anderson, was cautiously
optimistic of the group's prospects, "We can't say yet how this will be, but we do have very good arguments," she said.
Commenting on the timing and duration of the hearing, Ms. Anderson said, "Privy Council cases are usually short as a lot of the paperwork is done beforehand, so that they don't usually need a lot of time. The Lambert Watson case, for example, took six days, also they (Privy Council) have been very accommodating considering that when we spoke with the registrar at first they said that all the days for the entire term had been taken."
SUPPORT FROM COLLEAGUES
The group has also been receiving support from colleagues as attorneys for the appellate have been doing 'pro bono' work in all the cases with the solicitors in England doing the same.
The cost of the appeal (to produce records), approximately 2300 pounds sterling, is to be shared between the Government and the opposing groups.
A victory for the opposing groups would see an aborting of the Government's intention to have the acts, which have already been passed here, being passed into law.
In July, the Court of Appeal granted permission for the groups opposed to the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to appeal to the Privy Council, while the House of Representatives began debate on three Bills to set up the regional tribunal.
In August, Michael De La Bastide was sworn in as president of the CCJ, with interviews to select other officials to begin next week.
Opponents of the CCJ insist that the Patterson administration should seek a mandate from the electorate by holding a referendum. The group, led by Opposition Leader Edward Seaga, went to the extent of asking the Supreme Court to rule against the procedures being used to establish the CCJ.
They lost the case and on June 17, the Court of Appeal upheld the Supreme Court ruling which threw out the motion brought by the appellants on the ground that the motion was premature. The Court of Appeal in dismissing the appeal said that Parliament was not breaching any constitutional provisions by introducing Bills to establish the CCJ as a replacement for the United Kingdom-based Privy Council, Jamaica's final appellate court.
