Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The Caribbean Court of Justice and the CCJ Academy for Law are saddened to learn of the passing of Alix Boyd Knights, the former Speaker of the Dominican Parliament. Boyd Knights reportedly died at her home in Trafalgar, Dominica on Tuesday, 29 August 2023.
Boyd Knights was the longest-serving speaker in Dominica’s history having performed the role from 2000 to 2020 and was designated as Speaker Emerita in February 2020.
This signal honour was bedecked by a lifetime of firsts. She was the first student to complete first year of law studies in a non-campus territory of The University of the West Indies (UWI). While she attended The UWI, Cave Hill, her daughters were at Cave Hill and St Augustine campuses pursuing their tertiary education as well. After the passing of her mother, she took her eight-year-old daughter with her to Barbados to continue her studies and thereafter, to the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2010, she was elected Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians.
For her outstanding contribution to Caribbean law, Speaker Boyd Knights was recognised by the CCJ Academy for Law as a Pioneering Caribbean Woman Jurist in 2021. In composing her profile for this award, Dr Lennox Honychurch wrote:
“Quite apart from her illustrious career in law and Parliamentary affairs in Dominica and the wider Commonwealth for over 30 years, Boyd Knights has been sharing her love for culinary arts with people all over the world. She has used radio, television, Facebook, YouTube, as well as face-to-face sessions, to teach women to cook, preserve, and process food to generate income and to lift themselves from poverty.”
Speaker Boyd Knights repeatedly endorsed her gratitude to have been recognised as a Pioneering Jurist. In truth, her recognition was to the honour of the Academy.
Rest in peace, Speaker Alix Boyd Knights, Pioneering Caribbean Woman Jurist.
About the Caribbean Court of Justice
The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was inaugurated in Port of Spain, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago on 16 April 2005 and presently has a Bench of seven judges presided over by CCJ President, the Honourable Mr Justice Adrian Saunders. The CCJ has an Original and an Appellate Jurisdiction and is effectively, therefore, two courts in one. In its Original Jurisdiction, it is an international court with exclusive jurisdiction to interpret and apply the rules set out in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) and to decide disputes arising under it. The RTC established the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). In its Original Jurisdiction, the CCJ is critical to the CSME and all 12 Member States which belong to the CSME (including their citizens, businesses, and governments) can access the Court’s Original Jurisdiction to protect their rights under the RTC. In its Appellate Jurisdiction, the CCJ is the final court of appeal for criminal and civil matters for those countries in the Caribbean that alter their national Constitutions to enable the CCJ to perform that role. At present, four states access the Court in its Appellate Jurisdiction, these being Barbados, Belize, Dominica and Guyana. However, by signing and ratifying the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice, Member States of the Community have demonstrated a commitment to making the CCJ their final court of appeal. The Court is the realisation of a vision of our ancestors, an expression of independence and a signal of the region’s coming of age.
An entitled, corrupt, wicked and despicable lady. May where she is be as hot as hell.
But the corrupt CCJ did not make any comment on the passing of the late GON Emanuel whose case against the powers that be was mysteriously and criminally “stayed” /”stalled” by them whilst waiting for the elderly gentleman to pass away. A most disgusting and corrupt institution not worthy of the title of “court”.1
This woman isnt resting in peace.. stop the lies
I listened to the lady many times as she presided over active sessions of parliament. I am cautioned not to say any bad about the dearly departed. So I adamantly refuse to say any thing bad about her. However, I have nothing good to say either.
Alix Boyd Knight was a bit too haughty for me. Not humble enough. She fused her knowledge and skills to facilitate R Skerrit to impose himself on our country for far too long, and she benefitted from the process , enriching her self at our expense..
We who have a chance to be in power for so long, should have nudged Mr Skerrit in such a direction that the country would have been better off for their stewardship. This cannot be said for Alix Boyd Knight. She had better shuffle along quickly and make way for better actors and Actresses.
Robert Bernard Douglas ( senior), once told me in 1980, that there is always room at the top for better men. Alix Boyd hugged all the spaces and never left space for better men, May she rot in hell with the rest of her kind.
So so so sad.
Rest yourself mrs.knights
Sadly…in the end she used her legal knowledge and experience against her people.
Whatever they say, Dominicans saw a different face of her, the corrupt face and the vicious partisan face.
I have come to the realization that the most lies are told during eulogies. Even the most wicked are described as saints.