During today's House Meeting, the Briceno Government also brought back their Senior Courts Bill, a piece of draft legislation that was first introduced at the previous House Meeting, but it was immediately pulled.
This morning, Education Minister Francis Fonseca introduced it a second time, explaining that this Bill contemplates the biggest restructuring of the judiciary in the country's history so far.
Here's how he outlined it:
Hon. Francis Fonseca - Minister of Education
"The bill really represents, Madam Speaker, the most progressive and comprehensive restructuring of the judiciary ever undertaken in our nation's history. The Senior Courts Bill is all about strengthening the administration of justice. The bill is an amalgamation of the Court of Appeal Act and the Supreme Court of Judicature Act while introducing changes to the administration of those two courts. It renames the Supreme Court to be the High Court since the Supreme Court is not our apex court. The Caribbean Court of Justice is our apex Court. So, we are fixing that misnomer of the Supreme Court. It consolidates the judicial leadership of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, by making the Chief Justice the legal and administrative leader of both courts. The Chief Justice is to be assisted by a President of the Court of Appeal, two senior judges, for the High Court, one senior judge for the Criminal Division, and one senior court judge for the Civil Division. This will allow for the Criminal Division to have a dedicated, full-time head, to improve the timely delivery of justice in that division, as well as having a full-time leader in the Civil Division, to provide for efficiency and greater efficiency in the Civil Division. In the High Court Civil Division, there are to be specialized divisions, which are intended to lead to greater efficiency. There is to be a commercial division, which will deal with contracts, tort, and corporate matters; a constitutional and public law division, which will deal with constitutional challenges, judicial review claims, and case-stated matters; then a family and trust law division, which will deal with family trust and probate matters; and such divisions as the Chief Justice, over time, may think necessary to add."
