A United Kingdom (UK) attorney believes that Caribbean countries should look carefully before severing ties with London-based Privy Council in favor of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as their final appellate court.
Dr. Leslie Thomas QC, of the Garden Court Chambers in London, gave his opinion on the matter a press conference held at the Bala Congoree Law Chambers in Roseau.
“That’s my opinion. I think Dominica should look very clearfully before deciding to abandon (the Privy Council),” he said.
According to Thomas, while it is understandable that Caribbean states want to move from “formerly colonialistic court said to be meddling in affairs,” the Privy Council is not connected to politics and is truly independent.
“One thing I can say about the Privy Council is it is so far away and not connected to politics, with individual’s personalities,” he stated, pointing out that he personally have a great deal of respect for many of the judges who sit on the Privy Council where “you can get truly independent appellate processes.”
He noted that since the legal profession is small in the Caribbean, judges and lawyers can become to close to politics.
“I know a number of lawyers who are practicing in the Caribbean and one of the concerns that they have is the closeness,” Thomas stated. “Because the legal profession is very small amongst the Caribbean islands, one of the criticisms I have heard is at times is lawyers, judges can be too cozy, or at times too close to politics.”
When questioned on Caribbean states being independent for a long time and wishing to move on, Thomas remarked that there “is no reason why they can’t, it is whether they should.”
It has been argued that one of the reason for moving away from the Privy Council was that that the Caribbean was being treated like a ‘step child,’ but Thomas noted that this is not the impression that he has received Privy Council pointing out that all cases “are treated very similar to cases in our Supreme Court.”
Thomas pointed out, however, there is an advantage to moving to the CCJ.
“The obvious advantage would be that understanding about local culture, local knowledge in a way that 4,000 miles away in the Privy Council they just don’t have,” he said.
In January Dominica received approval to leave the Privy Council and join the CCJ as its final court of appeal and the matter was ratified in parliament on July 1.
On another note, Thomas is not in support of the death penalty.
“I don’t agree with the death penalty,” he said. “What happens when you have the wrong person? once you take their life, no appeal process is ever going to help them.”
He said in recent time there has been a number of people who has been taken off death row because of technology and the improvement in science.
U the learned lawyers, QC and the others too the time to understand the role and importance f the CCJ instead of trying to get their 15 mins of fame, they would think before they open that hole in their face and gv off gas.
I would suggest that the learned QC obtain a copy f the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and documents about the CCJ before he returns to London and reeducate himself or seat with our past president and me Alleyne and others in the region to educate himself and emancipate himself fr mental slavery and colonization. how can we we say we are independent and we still want to go home to our mothers for sugar, coffee, milk and other necessities to survive?
Further he should also note that Britain hs said that they no longer wants us to use the Privy Council as our final court of appeal,,,,,what should we wait for now…a kick up our fanny!
And your point is?…. Something like he is practicing in Britain so should not speak..? kinda lost here.
Cowardice behind a computer screen isn’t helpful. Hats off to any idiot from anywhere who is BRAVE enough to open the hole in their face to stand for truth and justice!
Smart people can warn them but these bloody fools so deep in bipartisan politics that they can’t see past their faces. I feel terrible for Dominica and the youth of Dominica. Ignorance is the order of the day they under educated get brainwashed.
Yea thats why skerite and his dirty cabals want to abandon the privy councel because they no it is non political affiliated sancre gass. Thats why they running too ccj .dominiicans open all u eyesssssssss!!!!!
That made no sense St Thomas, if that’s the case tell me how many cases that was brought to the Privy counsel and they lost? you make it seem like they went there and lost so much so they don’t want to go to them anymore frivolous statements like this will not draw us nearer or closer.
I hold a totally opposite view to the QC Doctor. Because I find Dominican’s at home and abroad are successful in all endevors and are quite capable of professional behavior at the highest levels. Our Jurors can uphold their vows with integrity. So why cant we be court of appeal officers we have the qualification and experience.
I suspect this Doctorated and QC bias lawyer has alterior motives.
Garbage! !!
@Zip code…….maybe my contribution is hogwash.
But think of this. Until 1920 women were not allowed to vote anywhere in the world because they were considered incompetent. In a world of over 200 nations, only in 21 head of states and heads of government exist for the very same reason. In some countries women have no rights at all because they are ” incompetent.” Britain gave Austrailia its independence without a struggle but notii black countries because of the “FEAR” of incompetence.
Nelson Mandela spent 25 years in jail because “white people ” did not believe “Black people” have integrity and a sense of fairness and were incompetent to run a country.
The Privy council does not care.
In my opinion the CCJ has potential to be manipulated by regional political personalities
Wow, what a naive statement to be made by an Attorney, quote “One thing I can say about the Privy Council is it is so far away and not connected to politics, with individual’s personalities.” We can all have our opinions as to what The Privy Council is, but the reality is, our opinions have no bearing as to what is the true nature of the Privy Council and how it operates, simply put, many things are not as they seem especially intuitions created by men, whether it is The CCJ or The Privy Council.
The silly belief that The legal profession is small in the Caribbean therefore Judges and Lawyers can become to close to politics as a result the Judicial system can be compromised. I would like to ask The Attorney isn’t that also true in the UK, come on, stop being so naive, in the UK it is done very covertly in an occult manner hidden from the masses. I’m not for or against The CCJ or The Privy Council. What I’m against is the manner by which The CCJ was implemented, people were denied the opportunity to participate in the process.
If there is no judicial justice in the CCJ, there is no Judicial justice in any court because everyone has a political preference. Look at the courts in the USA, some judges are elected, and some judges are appointed because of their political affiliation. All supreme court judges are nominated by a sitting president on party lines.
Are you trying to say that Dominicans or West Indians do not have a sense of fairness. Why do you think so? Or are you imitating the plantation masters who said that we could not do anything for ourselves because we are savages.
He has a point. You know what is occurring in D/ca. You have heard what others state. How fair are they?
CCJ is just another step for Skerrit on his way to dictatorship. He knows he can not achieve this with the Privy Council but he knows he would be able to influence the CCJ. Our judicial system on the island is already bad enough but with the CCJ it will develop into an even worse institution that is totally influenced by ruthless politicians and their gangs.
what about when you are certain that someone has committed the offence of murder and the case is straight forward? why work hard all my life and one of these hoodlums come to kill me to steal what i have?should the individual not be hanged? i guess is when these people or their immediate family get affected by murder they will stop the bull about not hanging..in america all the murder convictions were racially motivated by white corrupt cops.have you ever seen or heard a white man going to jail for murder and being freed after 30 yrs? only black men..so dont use this american situation to justify not hanging. when they kill and you have the proof hand them high.
Removing violent people from society is one thing, that’s a must. Giving the state the power to execute its citizens is quite another. Besides, if you’re really so worried about vengeance, consider this: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” – Romans 12:19
Steve, you have blessed my heart. You made my day.
I agree with him. However the final enforcement of a court judgement is in the hands of the polic. From my experience it is my opinion that the police & court system in Dominica is toothless and completely corrupt.
My personal experience:
While having 4 high court judges support 433 dec2008 restraining order the person(s) on the restraining order has been arrested 3 times for actions that amount to breaching this restraining order and each time placed on a new bail. despite being on a previous bail. Yes despite being on two previous bail sureties.
being puzzled by this after 8 years of my wife, children and I being victims of persistent unrelenting terror attacks and no poloice enforecment,we left dominica abandoning over 3million in investments after our legal representatives admitted to private meetings with the defendants and repeatedly lying to us about not being able to get a date…stalling (I was able to get a court date within 10 minutes at the registry)to have our case thrown out. i sought advice from another lawyer who laughed and told me “dont you realize he invites the judges and magistrates to his lavish parties?”
we have to always remember Dominica is being ruled by a DOCTRINE OF NECESSITY philosophy of the criminal enterprise, our president was inaugurated with snipers over head are we forgetting so quick???
What law school did this guy go to????
Ask our own AG what law school he graduated from.
The coziness is there among Caribbean Leaders and the Judges and I believe it is dangerous.Some visitors from St.Vincent told me that they Party with their PM and other PMs and yes judges.I will not mention names.
I am “respectfully pissed off”
Sir, I thank you for your opinion. Your views do not surprise me but they do disappoint me. Oh, and by the way the QC behind your name (Queen Courts) is a big giveaway of a … “colonized mind”.
Your opinion of Caribbean people; our lawyers and judges …. is straight out of the Colonizers’ book and it is sad. We are a people who are more than capable of minding our affairs with honour and integrity.
But I forgive you; the colonizers’ education is that which you “spew” out like venom, meant to chip away at the greatness of the West Indian Identity.
You views do injustice to the great men and women of the West Indian people. I would sure love to have a moment in the boxing with you.
Stupzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Is this a political statement? Or he truly believes that Black and West Indian people are incapable of being professionals in 2014?
And here we have a young black attorney telling black people
Take skerro passport case to London privy council.
The learned attorney talks about political interference in the court. I don’t know too much about the Privy Council, but if is anything like the US Supreme Court, that place cannot any more political. The decisions almost always comes down along political/philosophical lines.
I have even wondered if these justices are from different planets. How can they “interpret” the law in such diametrically opposite ways? My thought it there is no interpretation here, just straight politics and them serving their respective bases.
Why you bringing up the U.S. supreme court? What has that got to do with our situation? Privy Council in the U.K. is nothing like that. Ask our A.G. , who lived in England himself.
Well said, I support your statement fully. I believe that citizens in the Caribbean must be given every opportunity to have fairness and impartiality in a final appeal court. We are witnessing a certain level of disregard by politicians towards the Justice department. When our politicians begin to behave responsibly and begin to respect our local court system we will be ready to join the Caribbean court of appeal. We have had a few examples in case such as the PM US citizen case, The Gone Emmanuel case, and recently the death of Etienne in police custody to name a few. We heard as well from a High court Judge that Judges are very reluctant to rule against any ruling Government. I said all this to say we are not ready for the move.I supported DR Fontaine when he made a similar statement on the issue a few months ago.
You made an error. It is the PM French citizen case.
I say that West Indian jurist are quite capable of impartiality and fairness.
There is quite a difference between the behavior of law and order officers and that of jurists.
We should stay in the CCJ, and disregard all those post mortem arguments.
Dr Thomas can form a watchdog organization to keep the CCJ on a path of fairness. I am sure he could find organizers among his “doctorate” friends in DAAS who live overseas. They only have negative and opposition views in matters of progress.
So often the learned ones comes to DA to give their opinion to the primitives who have never travelled or have not read enough to know the difference and as the accents tickle the sound waves that enters our ear we apply emotional credence to someone else’s Stance. The opinion that CCJ will be influence by Politicians seems to suggest that the Judges in the Caribbean are all bought and paid for they have no credibility to make a collective decisions based on evidence presented. It also suggested the Privy Council cannot be influence by politicians (a bunch of hog wash). Folks Judges are appointed by politicians and they are all in the politicians debt to say that British Politicians have no influence on the Privy Council is Ludacris am not saying that it happens every day but to give the impression that is all that is going to happen in the CCJ is ridiculous. The great United States Supreme Court judges are all appointees of political administrations to prop their agenda. It’s time we start handling our own business and stop leaving it to other people. We are all left behind to fight our own economic battles why can we not handle our judicial issues as well. Opinions are like arm pits we all have them and they all stink
What is hogwash is this piece you’ve written. When a Chief Justice knows that he has to set rules on certain election matters and after ten years hasn’t done so, cannot find it within himself to do so, what do you call that? When a judge doesn’t understand what a “termination at will” clause in a contract means or how it operates, what do you call that?When judges don’t understand when and how to use the court’s inherent jurisdiction, what do you call that?
If you were right you would expect support, obviously you are blinded by the Tony/ skwoo BS and are to blind to see ahead.We have discussed the issue at length and have drawn attention to the fact that NO CONSTITUTION CAN STOP certain Politicians and yet you want to blast someone for supporting the truth. Time will tell.
@ Gwenef………..What truth. Pure speculation. The Doc cannot foretell the future so he is playing with “fear of the unknown”
There is something very sinister going on.
There is a hegemonic attitude in Dominica that those living overseas have more credibility than those who stay at home. That we are uninformed, if we choose to stay home.
But the “stay at home” is much smarter. They can achieve success in spite of inconvenience and minimum resources. They are like pioneers determined to develop their country
Look at the progress we are making, With the “Least Foreign Investment” in the world. We can tap ourselves on the back and say “yes we can”. What we have belong to us. We did it and we will be doing more on our own.
Here is our simple answer,POLITICAL Affiliation,thats why Tony and Skerro want to stray away.CORRUPTION COMTINUES.
I hope this is the same grell who lives at canfield and is remembered by his shouting….”water poison.” I am not sure what your point is. Is the good doctor seeking political affiliation? With who?
He is so correct! He certainly knows what he has stated and experienced it.
The same applies to Dominica having received independence from Great Britain. Some of us agree it was a bad decision and move. Consider how this has assisted Dominica to today.
This coziness of people in general is attributed to closeness in a small community where everyone knows practically everyone and even where they reside. If they do not know where the person resides, they will ask and someone will be eager to inform them, not knowing the reason why they asked. Not so or hardly ever so in a big community with millions of people. For this reason, the practice of discrimination, preferential treatment and unfairness could prevail in a small community.
This is one reason I love residing in a big country. Aside from family and friends, some people will not know you reside and if you do not keep close association with them, they know nothing much about you. In this manner, you may never get into trouble with them or have any trouble with them. Your privacy, to a certain extent, remains intact.
Most people in a big country keep their distance. It is “Hi and Bye” and/or “How are you today”, making small, chit chat conversations. Otherwise, everything is business as usual. I love that.
Those who specifically serve the public as Lawyers and other authorized people as also politicians should be cautioned to practice professionalism in the course of exercising their duties. Keep it formal and not practice preferential treatment. Know that you hold responsible jobs and God expects you to exercise your duties accordingly. Failure to do so, on that day, you are answerable to Our God. Ensure you practice your duties as perfectly as you possibly could.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said: “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” This is the be all and end all of it all, the bottom line and to obtain eternal salvation. We should know that nothing is hidden from our God. Just as He does not deceive, He cannot be deceived. This is a serious matter and one to be taken seriously. May God assist you accordingly.
Pertaining to the death penalty, this is another controversial subject. For some of us it could be Yes or No, approval or non-approval. My view is, if it can be fully proven that someone willfully and premeditated to commit murder, then I would call for the death penalty. However, circumstantial evidence would be doubtful that the person did commit the murder, although it could be that the person did commit it. Circumstantial evidence is difficult to prove.
Therefore Courts please ensure that the person did commit the crime and hand down the death penalty as deserved.
Everyone deserves to live, from conception to natural death, as the unborn babies in their mothers’ womb. There are some who do not approve of the death penalty yet endorse the killing of babies, future citizens in their mothers’ wombs. Note the hypocrisy and unfairness to the vulnerable babies.
Those who commit murder have taken away a God-given precious life. It does not matter who the person is, what he/she stated and how they feel. By depriving others of their life, they do not deserve to live. This is my stance on this one. It is not one that lacks compassion. They should also not be kept incarcerated for too long. The death penalty should be carried out as soon as possible. Why waste taxpayers’ money?
We reside in a world that as we go about our business, we do not know when we will encounter someone who may take our life. It has happened to people and innocent ones. I pray to God that this never happens to me.
I believe in a fair/just society where people are entitled to live in dignity, peace and harmony, according each other the same.
The Lord and the Disciples have taught us how to live as do the Church, according to these godly teachings and with others in order to appease Our God, to receive his blessings and graces and remain in him while we are alive until He decides to end our life for our eternal destiny, hopefully, Heaven as we live.
A strong message must go out to those who commit crimes. Remember, it could either be your life or mine. Too many have died through the years at the hands of murderers, whether in D/ca or in other parts of the world. These have caused much grief and hardships for the family of those whom they killed. They are the victims.
Should murderers expect to live especially under circumstances of premeditated/willful murder? I say, NO! The Courts must never overlook that.
Dr a Thomas
Dominica wants to move away from the Privy Council because they do not encourage independent processes as the government is dependent on certain lawyers on the island.
One could say that Dominica is governed jointly by the elected members and certain lawyers.
But Mr. Thomas you late look how many years now this was introduce to the public and only now you giving your opinion. Sir. do you know the great fathers told us to handle our own affairs? knowing that we are capable of doing so. Now with part of your ideology we Caribbean have been in trouble all our lives cause it don’t have to only be politics what happen to the common man that know the judges on the local scale and has matters in the court, did they get away with it with the sitting judges? So you see making blatant opinions like this could only lead to misinterpretation of the ruling of the courts, no matter where you go in the world there are corrupt people in every system and i know you know not all people have evil minds. I would think a few honest judges could sit a tell if a judge made any person or political party get away with murder and sit there and not bring the matter to the judicial body, in fact i know our people are capable of doing things the right way cause our people were some of the brightest jurist who sat on the world justice board and now to tell me these people will come back home and throw away their reputation for a mere peanut is misleading just as that was your opinion this mine and it’s fair for other people to critique mine as well, thank you Sir.
I want to agree with you because I can see some truth and credibility in your statement. By the way, your piece is well-written. However, I have to go deeper with my opinion. I believe that there are some impartial judges who are independent minded and can stand on the “Law”. Small island justice however, causes us to think that some can be bought and sold They let emotion and familiarity control the ruling. Sticking to the Law and being impartial is not easy for the crooked and unscrupulous members of the judicial body. The government owns the judges and lawyers. Where is the justice? I want to believe that it is still attainable in our society.
They could be bribed.
i concur, any jurisdiction where a lawyer can convince a judge to rule biase is a breach of justice… everyone is a cousin of someone and any one who want to destroy you can hopp liat and go influence a judge and come back… they will still be politically influenced..
privi i say no ccj
Edward I respect your opinion, my only question to you is are you a rich man? cause as it is right now if you Edward have a case that needs to be heard in the UK do you have the money and the means to take your case to the Privy, God knows for your sake I hope so cause if you don’t have the means justice would be denied to you my friend. Do you know 90% of cases that went to the said Privy counsel were sent back to our courts stating that it was properly judged and had no right to come to them?