Byron Blake | Appreciating the CCJ: History, nature, and protective shield

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is unique. It was birthed in an environment hostile to its existence. That, in large measure, explains its elephant-like gestation. The idea of a Caribbean Court of Appeal was floated by Jamaica in 1970, and the CCJ became a legal entity in 2003. It was 33 years in the making. The idea went through the furnace, and in my view, emerged as a diamond. But diamonds are not without flaws.

Some policymakers were afraid of change, and there were senior lawyers addicted to the pomp, prestige, exclusivity, and privilege of appearing before Her Majesty’s Court in London. We were, and still significantly are, a people lacking confidence in ourselves and with an ingrained respect for the white master’s touch. There was also the reality of the number of states and legal traditions in the Caribbean. Further, there were deep concerns about the possibility of political interference, member states’ ability to meet their financial obligations on time, and the relatively small pool from which to recruit the bench. Many of the concerns were captured in a memorandum by the Jamaica Bar Association.

The objective concerns were considered and addressed in that long gestation period. Naturally, nothing could be done about the subjective ones, some of which continue to haunt the court after two decades of globally acknowledged quality judgments.

LEVEL OF INTEREST

The court was structured with two distinct jurisdictions, namely: (i) an Original Jurisdiction; and (ii) an Appellate Jurisdiction. In its Original Jurisdiction, it is an international tribunal with exclusive and final responsibility for interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. All members of the Community are required to subscribe to its Original Jurisdiction. In its Appellate Jurisdiction, it functions as the final court of appeal for individual member states. States exercise their sovereign authority and decide whether to subscribe to the Court as their final court of appeal. Five states, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, and Saint Lucia, have made the CCJ their final appellate court.

The CCJ operates in both the civil and common-law traditions, the two systems current in the region. No state had to change its system for the CCJ to function.

• Under the agreement establishing the court, there can be a maximum of 10 judges, including the president, but it can operate with seven judges (including the president). It must include at least one judge from the civil-law tradition. Judges, other than the president, are appointed or removed by a majority vote of an 11-member Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC). The RJLSC recommends a candidate for the presidency to the Conference of Heads of Government. The Conference can accept or reject the candidate, but it cannot propose a substitute. The appointment of the judges of the CCJ, including the president, is, therefore, insulated from political influence.

Judges can be recruited from (i) a CARICOM member state; (ii) a contracting party (that is, a state which has executed the agreement establishing the CCJ); (iii) some parts of the Commonwealth; and (iv) a state exercising civil-law jurisprudence common to contracting parties. As of August 2026, there have been 16 judges appointed from 10 countries, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Nigeria/Canada, and four presidents from four different countries.

A judge, once appointed, can hold office until age 72. This can be extended to age 75 until the full complement of nine judges and the president has been appointed. The president is appointed for one seven-year term. Put differently, there is certainty of tenure but no lifetime appointment.

• The CCJ is funded through an independently managed CCJ Trust Fund. This is unique among apex courts, international courts, and integration courts. The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) raised US$100 million for the CCJ Trust Fund and subloaned it to the member states in proportion to their contribution to the CARICOM Secretariat’s budget.

The trust fund is administered by a board of trustees drawn from regional entities, representing both private and public interests. The trust fund cannot solicit or accept donations unless all member states agree. It must manage its resources to generate the income to finance the planned expenses of the court in perpetuity.

ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS

The CCJ has its headquarters in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, which is the base for its sittings. It, however, can (i) operate as an itinerant court; or (ii) operate virtually. In its itinerant functioning, the CCJ bears all costs except for the venue, which the host country is expected to provide.

To date, it has sat in Barbados, Belize, Guyana, and Jamaica, in addition to its seat in Trinidad and Tobago.

It does not charge for filing an application for permission to appeal while the cost of filing a notice of appeal was US$60 in 2015.

We are not aware of who commissioned it, but our research reveals that in January 2020, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit of Germany announced the results of a Judicial Integrity Scan conducted on the CCJ. They used the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct and the United Nations Convention against Corruption in the review. They “endorsed many aspects of the CCJ’s structure, including the transparency and accessibility of its hearings and judgments; its use of a Code of Judicial Conduct and the high levels of adherence to this Code; the overall design of the Court itself and the RJLSC; and the recruitment and selection process for judges as handled by the RJLSC. It noted ... that there was ... a gender imbalance among the judges ....” (German judicial scan applauds CCJ. Archived.)

Most Caribbean states have refused to make the CCJ their final court. They must have a superior alternative. We will explore that in another article.

Ambassador Byron Blake is the former deputy permanent representative to the United Nations and former assistant secretary-general of CARICOM. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com