FEATURE: Time to end appeals to the Privy Council?

Comments by a British Lord who becomes the first President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom next month have rekindled a debate in the Caribbean over the role of the Privy Council as the final court of appeal for many states, including Trinidad and Tobago.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Lord Phillips questioned whether some Privy Council cases really needed to be heard by a panel of five of Britain's most senior judges.

The former UK Chief Justice told the newspaper "in an ideal world" Commonwealth countries would stop using the Privy Council and set up their own final courts of appeal instead.

Such a court already exists in the Caribbean. But a debate is raging in the region about whether a homegrown Caribbean Court of Appeal (CCJ), which is based in Port of Spain, would have the independence and credibility that the British Privy Council enjoys.

Attorney General John Jeremie of Trinidad and Tobago says concerns raised by Lord Phillips prove the need for the CCJ.

"I feel deeply embarrassed by these comments. The position of the Government is that we should move with alacrity to our own indigenous final court-the Caribbean Court of Justice. Self-respect and independence demands nothing less," Jeremie said in an official statement.

Jeremie said the CCJ should be the country's final court of appeal on criminal and civil matters as well as trade matters arising out of the Caricom Single Market (CSM), as is the situation today.

But that idea is meeting resistance and could block the CCJ from taking over the Privy Council's role because the change requires a constitutional amendment.

The Manning administration lacks the parliamentary numbers to pass it alone and he is not getting the necessary support from the opposition.

The United National Congress (UNC) strongly opposes the CCJ, fearing it would be vulnerable to political interference.

Opposition leader Basdeo Panday refuses to support the bill even though his government signed the Caricom treaty establishing of the CCJ when the UNC was in office.

The CCJ currently adjudicates cases from Guyana and Barbados alone. Other countries have not signed on for a variety of reasons ranging from concerns over independence of the court, the cost of holding referendums to effect the required constitutional change, to political expediency.

The concerns expressed by the Lord Phillips are seen by former St Kitts/Nevis governor general Sir Probyn Innis as a message to Caribbean and other Commonwealth countries to “get your house in order and do what you have to do”.

In an interview with the BBC's Caribbean service, he said the message “is loud and clear. Enough is enough is enough. Allow us to get on with our business of modernising our legal system in the United Kingdom.”

Listen: Sir Probyn interviewed by the BBC's Bertram Niles

Commenting on the statement by the British jurist, Sir Probyn conceded to the BBC that it will take more than "what has been said so politely, so diplomatically, to waken Caribbean leaders from their slumber."