Retiring Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) judge, Justice Andrew Burgess, wants all CARICOM member states acceding to its appellate jurisdiction, rather than Britain’s Privy Council. “I would say it would inure to the benefit of the region if all the countries accede to the appellate jurisdiction. For one, the development of the common law depends upon judgment cases and if you do not have enough cases in the court, it sort of impedes the development of the common law appropriate to the region.
“From that perspective, I would say it would be desirable if all the territories in the region subscribed, because it would aid tremendously in the development of authentic Caribbean jurisprudence,” Justice Burgess told the Sunday Sun last week.
The CCJ was established in 2005 as the judicial institution of CARICOM, with an original jurisdiction onto which all 12 CARICOM member states signed and an appellate jurisdiction to which only Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana and St Lucia have signed as their final court of appeal.
