PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC:
ATTORNEY-GENERAL John Jeremie does not believe that Thursday's Privy Council ruling on the constitutionality of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as Jamaica's final court of appeal, will affect the country's position on the proposed court.
The British law lords ruled Thursday that the Jamaican Parliament could lawfully remove appellate access to the Privy Council by a simple majority, but a special two-thirds majority was required to replace the Council with the CCJ.
The Privy Council also ruled that the bills, which have already received the governor-general's signature, are invalid.
TEMPORARY SETBACK
"The decision in no way affects the CCJ as an international law tribunal and merely temporarily affects Jamaica's legislative process in enacting the court into domestic legislation," Jeremie said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement added that the Trinidad and Tobago Government ensured "that our legislative process was immune to attacks from any developments."
It also stated that precaution was taken to defer debate on the bill to enact the CCJ, "until such time that we were absolutely certain that our legislative process would withstand any challenge."
Editor's Note: The ruling would not affect Trinidad and Tobago because of that country's status as a Republic.
