Ja: Constitutionality of CCJ

FRANK PHIPPS, Q.C., the chairman of the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs, said it is regrettable that the Government plans to press ahead with the Bills in Parliament to establish the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), without waiting for a decision from the courts.

The motions brought by Opposition Leader Edward Seaga and other claimants were dismissed on a preliminary point taken in court by Solicitor-General Michael Hylton, Q.C. The claimants are contending that the Bills to establish the CCJ are unconstitutional because the court will not be a permanent one such as the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal because it will not be enshrined in the Constitution of Jamaica.

The matter is now before the Court of Appeal. Mr. Phipps was making a presentation earlier this month on 'Access to the CCJ' at a conference on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).

"I cannot sit without issuing a challenge to members of the School of Graduate Studies and Research for them to consider finding a way to make Jamaica a truly independent nation with a democratic Constitution, rather than trying to put a square peg into a round hole by inserting a court into an imperfect and inadequate Constitution," he said.