CJ not happy with slow pace of judgment delivery

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Parent Category: Sept 2011

Category: Week ending Sept 30th, 2011

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Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Hugh Rawlins has lamented the slow pace in which judgments are delivered in the courts.

Addressing a special sitting of the high court to commence the new law year last week Tuesday via a simulcast, the Chief Justice urged judges to show improvements with regards to outstanding judgments.

 His Lordship noted that while judges are working through numerous challenges, there are too many instances in which judgments are being delayed.

  “The judges of our courts are carrying the burden in adverse circumstances. The vast majority of our judges still manage to remain current in the delivery of judgments, even through illness which is often bought by the stress of the workload, deprivation of family and social life,” he said.

 “It is not acceptable that judgments should be delayed in our court system. The Privy Council has said that in various cases. You may well recall the case that went to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in recent times in which the combined time for delivery of the judgment was over eight years”, he added.

 According to Chief Justice Rawlins, this resulted in the CCJ indicating that judgments should be delivered within a certain time frame barring very serious circumstances.

 He noted that there are instances in which persons who are affected by decisions of Magistrates are unable to pursue appeals to high courts because decisions are not produced and this is quite unacceptable.  

 “While I put on record my appreciation for the work of judges for their consistency in this their labour of love, it is incumbent upon me to call upon those who are inconsistent to follow”, he told the Special sitting.

 “Let us rededicate ourselves to our task, in keeping with our oaths,” the Chief Justice said, adding that, “it is not enough to say that it has always been like that or it is the norm in most other jurisdictions.”

 During the session, Chief Justice Rawlins announced new appointments to the bench, with The Hon. Don Michel QC to the Court of Appeal for two years, and Hon. Georges Taylor Alexander, formerly Solicitor General of St. Lucia as Master of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

 In addition, Justice Kenneth Benjamin who was Judge in charge of the Criminal Division in St. Lucia took up the post of Chief Justice of Belize with effect from September 15.

 However, the Chief Justice disclosed that the names of those lawyers who will become new Queens Counsels would be announced at a later date.

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