The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is one step closer to becoming a reality now that the first president of the CCJ has been sworn in.<\/P><\/p>\n
The Right Honourable Justice Michael de la Bastide of Trinidad and Tobago was ratified in the post last Wednesday in a ceremony attended by CARICOM Chairman and Prime Minister of Grenada Dr. Keith Mitchell, CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington and commissioners of the Regional Judiciary and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC), a CARICOM statement said.<\/P><\/p>\n
President of Trinidad and Tobago Dr. George Maxwell Richards administered the Oath of Office.<\/P><\/p>\n
CARICOM leaders collectively endorsed the recommendation of the RJLSC for Justice de la Bastide\uffb4s appointment during the 25th conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in Grenada in July.<\/P><\/p>\n
Touted as the Caribbean\uffb4s first indigenous court, the CCJ is scheduled to be inaugurated in November, with its seat in Trinidad and Tobago.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93CARICOM leaders consider the CCJ vital to the operation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and have remained steadfast in placing high priority on its establishment as a body of community law to resolve disputes that will arise under the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the CSME,\uff92 the CARICOM statement said.<\/P><\/p>\n
Justice de la Bastide served formerly as Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago and Chairman of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission. <\/P><\/p>\n
He holds a first class Bachelor\uffb4s degree in Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from Christ Church Oxford University in London.<\/P><\/p>\n
The CCJ president also served as an independent Senator and senior partner of the de la Bastide and Jacelon law firm. <\/P><\/p>\n
The veteran jurist, admitted to the London Gray\uffb4s Inn Bar in 1961, was appointed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on July 27, 2004.<\/P><\/p>\n
While a number of CARICOM countries push ahead to meet the November inauguration date for the CCJ, The Bahamas remains outside of that process.<\/P><\/p>\n
Following the Grenada Heads of Government meeting, Prime Minister Perry Christie said, notwithstanding this country\uffb4s commitment to support the CCJ financially, The Bahamas would not become a part of that court. <\/P><\/p>\n
As a result, the Privy Council will remain The Bahamas\uffb4 final court of appeal.<\/P><\/p>\n
The CCJ will function as both a court of original jurisdiction and as an appellate court.<\/P><\/p>\n
In its appellate jurisdiction, the court will apply the laws of member states from which it hears appeals.<\/P><\/p>\n
As a court of original jurisdiction the CCJ will perform the role of an international court, interpreting and applying the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, the CARICOM statement noted.<\/P><\/p>\n
Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal<\/B><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Touted as the Caribbean\uffb4s first indigenous court, the CCJ is scheduled to be inaugurated in November, with its seat in Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}