The aftershocks of our story on the High Court last week are still being felt. 7news has seen a stern memorandum from the Chief Justice Louise Blenman to the Registrar Trienia Young. Sent on Monday, the memo makes it clear, quote, "The Chief Justice is the head of the administration and the judicial functions of the Senior Courts of Belize. The Chief Justice is the only officer who is authorized to close the High Court or cancel the sittings of the High Court. The Registrar of the High Court is not authorized to issue any such direction to close the court or cancel sittings to the Bar Association, without conferring with the Chief Justice and obtaining approval."
The scold comes after, as we reported last week on a notice the Registrar sent to the bar association saying that "some of the High Court matters scheduled over the course of the remaining two weeks of this session may be postponed due to extenuating circumstances."
The wholesale adjournment of matters before several judges was reportedly caused by Chief Justice Blenman's decree that each judge prepare detailed end-of-year reports for her to present early next year. Blenman rejected the notice and declared that she had no knowledge of or gave no approval for such a notice.
