“[…] The accusations of political or cultural bias against our judges are simply not warranted on the facts which I have also researched and documented—and to the extent that it may exist, is certainly no worse than any other jurisdiction, even the United Kingdom. “Let us stop falsely accusing our …
Read More »Vaneisa: Perhaps we should replace, not reform, our Constitution
I suggested that people might not be offering their views on constitutional reform because they do not know what is contained in the country’s Constitution. I may be familiar with its nitty-gritty, but I can’t say I have a total grasp of what it covers. And that’s a point I …
Read More »CCJ judge, Winston Anderson, gets four-year CAS appointment
Justice Winston Anderson, a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) judge and chairman of the CCJ Academy for Law, will spend the next four years as a member of the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), after his recent appointment to the international sport arbitration body. Anderson, a Jamaican national, …
Read More »Daly Bread: Is Kamla preparing to be ‘martyred loser’? Did Cabinet ignore Laventille MPs?
My principal but probably vain hope for the general election, to be held on 10 August, is that it will not polarise the country further. Realistically, one cannot hope for more and it is mamaguy to feed us dreams of unity and overcoming while our leaders are likely to engage …
Read More »Is the advance of the CCJ now stalled? Daly examines issues blighting Caribbean court
The future of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is not a hot topic and I will soon return to our mainstream woes, including violent crime, which is still prevailing despite rounds of fat talk. It is necessary nevertheless to leave some record as to why, despite its 13-year existence and …
Read More »Daly Bread: CCJ setbacks in Grenada and Antigua show depth of post-colonial insecurity
For six years I served on the Regional Judicial and Legal Service Commission (RJLSC), the regional body responsible for the supervisory management of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). The RJLSC has no jurisdiction over the hearing and deciding of cases before the court. Judging is exclusively the court’s business. …
Read More »Dear Editor: Ex-PNM general secretary knocks Justice Saunders for criticising T&T govt over CCJ
“One would have expected that as a Judge, Mr. Saunders would have checked his facts before making a pronouncement on the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, because if he did, he would have found that the failure of this country to be part of the CCJ lies with the opposition …
Read More »DALY BREAD: Exercising power without legitimacy; why Chief Justice must say “goodbye” not “sorry”
On Thursday last, by a vote of nearly 2 to 1 in the case of each resolution, the members of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, (LATT) the governing body for lawyers, declared their loss of confidence in the Chief Justice. By a similar margin, it dealt with the …
Read More »PITT STOP: The case for the CCJ; a retired judge turns advocate
“Judicial decisions are made on the basis of relevant evidence properly brought before the court, to which the governing law is applied. Judges are not like parents or bosses, whose decision making power emanates solely from their status. “What is more, judges operate within a very critical legal community—both domestic …
Read More »Hanging in disbelief: The truth behind shambolic political posturing over the death penalty
The Privy Council decided in 1993—in the case of Pratt and Morgan—that execution could not lawfully take place more than five years after sentence. It was recommended that a capital appeal should be heard within twelve months of conviction and the entire domestic appeal process completed within two years. I …
Read More »Organised disappointment: Daly considers Caribbean lessons from Brexit
I arrived in London 30 hours after the Brexit referendum decided that Britain would set out to leave the European Union. Two days later, a second Brexit occurred when Iceland tossed England out of the European Football Championship. There has been copious handwringing over both results. Space constraints inhibit me …
Read More »CARICOM divided: The myth of Caribbean free movement
The furore over Trinidad and Tobago’s deportation of Jamaican nationals points to an ongoing issue rather than a new one. It originates out of a clear misunderstanding of who qualifies for consideration under Articles 45 and 46 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas 2001 for “Free Movement of People.” Both …
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