By Robert Hart, Parliamentary Reporter 
Golding (left) and Seaga (right)
THE OPPOSITION Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is hesitating to support a proposal by
former leader Edward Seaga on the best route for establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) .
Mr. Seaga, in an article published in The Gleaner yesterday, suggested that the Opposition should restate to government an option he presented to Parliament two years ago.
In that recommendation, the then Opposition Leader, Mr. Seaga, suggested that the government enact an entrenched CCJ as an intermediate court.
REFERENDUM ROUTE
"At the end of 10 years the public would be asked by referendum whether the intermediate CCJ had performed at a level which generated sufficient confidence for it to be allowed to replace the Privy Council as the final court of appeal for Jamaica," he said.
However, during a press briefing on Thursday, JLP Chairman Senator Bruce Golding appeared wary of accepting such a solution.
"That was an attempt to find an alternative way to give us the benefit of the opportunity to observe the operation of the court," Senator Golding admitted.
He accepted that it would allow Jamaicans to arrive at a judgment as to the quality of the court's jurisprudence before taking the final decision to remove the Privy Council.
The JLP Chairman argued, however, that there was a difficulty in taking such an approach because it would still require the amendment of Section 49 of the Constitution, which would in turn require a referendum.
UNDECIDED ON APPROACH
"We would have to determine whether, since you would have to go the same route as you would have to take in setting up a final court, whether or not that is an approach that we would take," Senator Golding said.
On Thursday the Privy Council ruled that
the process used by the Government to pass three Bills, establishing the CCJ last year, was unconstitutional.
The ruling rendered the bills void, and could potentially set back the start up date of the CCJ in its appellate jurisdiction for at least 18 months.
That proposal would require that the intermediate court be superior to the Appeal Court of Jamaica, but not the United Kingdom-based Privy Council.
Mr. Seaga said the court would serve to deal with appeals which could be settled at that level if accepted by both parties.
