CCJ president: Court has fulfilled mandate of regional justice

PRESIDENT of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and chairman of the CCJ Academy of Law, Justice Winston Anderson, says the court has fulfilled its 20-year mandate of developing an indigenous Caribbean jurisprudence and expanding access to justice across the region.

Speaking at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain on November 26, at the academy’s eighth biennial conference, part of the CCJ’s 20th-anniversary celebrations, Anderson said the court’s inauguration on April 16, 2005, marked a decisive step in regional judicial independence.

He said since delivering its first judgement, the court has issued 312 decisions in its appellate jurisdiction, shaping legal principles in constitutional, criminal, civil, land, family and contract law.

Anderson said rulings have reshaped long-standing doctrines, deepened understanding of Caribbean constitutionalism and democratic norms, and created minimum regional standards in criminal justice.

He noted CCJ decisions have been cited more than 450 times by courts in almost every common-law Caribbean state, including countries that have not yet acceded to the CCJ as their final appellate court.

In its original jurisdiction, Anderson said the CCJ has proven “essential” to the functioning of the Caricom Single Market and Economy, serving as the sole arbiter of disputes under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

“The CCJ is not a court imposed on us by anyone. It is a reality of our own making, our collective imagination and resources. It is interwoven into the fabric of Caribbean life. It must be for us, the people it was created to serve.”

He said the Academy of Law remains committed to fostering regional dialogue at a time when the rule of law faces increasing threats globally.

Anderson also paid tribute to the late Justice Jacob “Bob” Wit, calling him a towering figure in regional jurisprudence whose influence will “remain locked in our collective memory.”

Wit, who served on the CCJ’s inaugural bench from 2005 until his retirement in December 2023 owing to ill health, died earlier this year. A Dutch national domiciled in Curaçao, he was the court’s only civil-law jurist.

Anderson said he used that vantage point, often with a wry sense of humour, to challenge, dissect and enrich the court’s common-law traditions. Anderson said he was also central to creating the CCJ Academy of Law, which he helped conceptualise and establish in 2010.

Anderson credited him with energising major initiatives, including the 2016 biennial conference in St Maarten, the first to unite Caribbean lawyers across jurisdictions, languages and legal traditions.

“Bob was an extraordinary friend and confidant. His legacy lives on in the clarity he brought to the law and in his devotion to improving the lives of the people of this region.”

Justice Chantal Ononaiwu, CCJ judge and deputy chair of the Academy of Law, told the approximately 400 in-person participants this year’s theme, The CCJ at 20: Reflections on Caribbean Jurisprudence, underscored the court’s mandate to shape the region’s legal development and deepen Caribbean integration.

She said the conference sought to examine the CCJ’s contributions to regional jurisprudence alongside significant decisions from courts across the Caribbean, while assessing the role legislators, practitioners, academics and civil-society groups must play in charting the court’s future.

Ononaiwu encouraged participants to engage in critical discussions across constitutional law, fundamental rights, criminal justice reform, family law, estates, commercial law and Caricom law.

She said cross-cutting issues, such as the interaction between domestic and international law, the region’s plural legal systems, and the impact of technology on jurisprudential development, were particularly relevant to the region’s evolution.

Ononaiwu expressed confidence the biennial gathering would be “an enriching and rewarding experience.”

General counsel of Caricom, Lisa Shoman, SC, hailed the anniversary as both “a milestone and a seminal achievement”, describing the institution as a living validation of a regional vision.

Delivering greetings on behalf of Caricom Secretary General Dr Carla Barnett, Shoman said the Secretariat welcomed the Academy’s new co-chair, who “will undoubtedly continue the legacy of excellence we have come to expect.”

She said the region’s history of political independence placed a responsibility on Caribbean legal practitioners to shape a jurisprudence that reflects the region’s culture and socio-economic realities.

“This is what supports our integration process as a people of the Caribbean.”

Shoman said young Caribbean lawyers now confront a far more complex legal terrain than previous generations, and the CCJ Academy for Law was created precisely to help meet that challenge.

Pointing to the wide-ranging topics to be addressed at the conference, she joked her favourite session title was “the magnificent modern world of estates and home-grade practice”.

She said the biennial conference has been a staple since 2010 and said its continued success demonstrates “how far we have come since independence, the creation of our Caribbean Community, the inception of the Caribbean Court of Justice and the establishment of the Caribbean Academy of Law.”

Shoman described the gathering as a collaborative regional space for strengthening justice and legal innovation. The ultimate goal, she added, is “to make the lives of Caribbean institutions, and its people, better.”

Anton Edmunds, general manager of the Caribbean Country Department at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to bolstering justice systems across the region.

He said the CCJ had become a confident and credible institution that advances fairness, constitutionalism and regional integration. Its decisions, he added, have clarified citizens’ rights, strengthened democratic traditions and supported the legal foundations of the CSME.

Edmunds said the CCJ’s legacy aligns closely with the IDB’s priorities. The bank has spent nearly 25 years helping Caribbean states modernise legal frameworks, strengthen criminal justice institutions and expand equitable access to justice.

He highlighted the IDB’s 2024 launch of its One Caribbean initiative, with citizen security as a core pillar. The One Safe Caribbean programme focuses on countering organised crime, protecting vulnerable groups, and improving the quality of evidence used to guide crime-reduction policies.

Through the initiative, he said, the IDB is investing in justice-sector capacity building, public education on violence prevention and digital tools to strengthen regional cooperation.

“Our aim is simple: to ensure that every citizen can live in a Caribbean where rights are protected, laws are enforced fairly, and institutions serve the public good.”

He said the conference’s agenda was timely and essential to the region’s development.