“We urge the Registry to take steps to ensure that any such suspected attempts at forum shopping are immediately brought to the attention of the judiciary so that remedial action can be taken. “We ask the print media to be mindful that blindly repeating what is being peddled on social …
Read More »Dear Editor: Judicial independence in T&T is under attack by a “select group of lawyers”
“Judicial independence essentially means that judges and other judicial officers are free to exercise the functions of their office without fear of reprisal, retribution or termination. The elements of such independence are security of tenure, financial security and administrative independence. “Each of these elements is essential to ensure that democracy …
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 »DALY BREAD: I have no confidence left in the JLSC
The furore arising from the appointment as a High Court judge, subsequent resignation and the purported “restoration” of Mrs Marcia Ayers-Caesar, the former Chief Magistrate, as a magistrate has not died down. However, as the story emerges, public opinion now contains feelings of mercy for Mrs Marcia Ayers-Caesar. I am …
Read More »Daly, Dumas troubled by revelations on magistrate Quinlan-Williams, Carmona and JLSC
“[Avason Quinlan-Williams] has very recently been appointed a High Court judge and we are absolutely satisfied that the public interest requires that the determination of the disciplinary tribunal be released, so that the public can be assured of the propriety of the appointment of Mrs Quinlan-Williams to the office of …
Read More »Dear Editor: Does T&T practice selective law enforcement? And what are the ramifications?
“The disproportionate prosecution of working class criminals ultimately serves to maintain ruling-class power and to reinforce ruling class ideology—thus performing ‘ideological functions’ for the ruling class.” Orson Rogers considers potential flaws in the way that Trinidad and Tobago deals with crime: As an armchair crime watcher and based on considerable …
Read More »MASTER’S VOICE: Privy Council says Dumas damn right to demand info from State body
Hear ye, hear ye, O people of the babagreen—I cyar really say “grassroots” no more since in most places the grass cut and covered over with Bestcrete or pitch. Anyway, leh mih make mih point. The point is that ting happening and, Sherma Wilson, forgive me for calling your name …
Read More »DALY BREAD: Far from closed; JLSC’s damage of the Judiciary must carry consequence!
The Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) blundered when it appointed Mrs Marcia Ayers-Caesar to the office of a Judge of the High Court. At the time of the JLSC’s decision to appoint her, Mrs Ayers-Caesar was the Chief Magistrate and had a list of unfinished cases before her. One …
Read More »In the media too, we like it so! Farrell suggests why media is less trusted than police
“It is often the case though that persons in leadership positions disclaim accountability and responsibility: the school Principal claims she can’t lead her school because it is ‘really the Ministry’ who is in charge; the Public Service Commission claims it can’t do anything, because it is ‘really the Director of …
Read More »DALY BREAD: Ayers-Caesar fiasco “monumentally troubling;” JLSC members should go
The latest round of appointments to the High Court bench and the ensuing fiasco raises the urgent need to find a constitutional mechanism to hold the Judicial and Legal Service Commission accountable. Steps must be taken with a far less leisurely timetable than the one recently suggested by the Law …
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 »Taking a long, hard look: Daly explains why courts can’t save us without better policing
I suppose one can admire the zeal with which the Attorney General, Mr Faris Al Rawi, pursues his causes in the Parliament. Likewise, members of the Opposition have made a number of valid points concerning legislation brought before the Parliament recently. It would of course be more palatable if both …
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