THE EDITOR, Sir:
YOUR COLUMNIST, Mr. Peter Espeut, in one of his articles on Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, stated: "Besides the JCPC is a Commonwealth Court, not a colonial court; does the government intend to withdraw from the British Commonwealth of Nations? Why is a regional appointed Caribbean Court better than an independently appointed Commonwealth Court?"
Reading the article, I immediately came to the conclusion that:
the JCPC is a body set up and/or administered by the Commonwealth through one of its department (example the secretariat);
it makes no sense being a member of the Commonwealth if the JCPC is not our highest court and
appointment to JCPC is done by an independent body set up for this purpose.
To check the facts I searched the Internet for the JCPC and the Commonwealth to check on the accuracy of Mr. Espeut's statement. This is what I found:
There is no longer a "British Commonwealth of Nations"; the name has long changed to "The Commonwealth of Nations".
Of the 54 member countries of The Commonwealth of Nations only 18 (including the UK) use the JCPC. Of the 18, 11 are from the Caribbean. So the majority (2/3) of Commonwealth does not use the JCPC so much for withdrawing from the Commonwealth.
There are no formal ties between The Commonwealth of Nations and the JCPC, so it would be very inaccurate to say it is a "Commonwealth Court".
An independent person or body does not appoint judges to the JCPC. The appointment of judges is completely at the discretion of ONE politician, the British Prime Minister of the day. He/she chooses from a list provided by the Lord Chancellor, and by the way, the Lord Chancellor is a member of his cabinet.
It would therefore seem that Mr. Espeut is incorrect in all aspects of the above quotation. While I am not sure which option is best, JCPC or CCJ, and am in the process of making a decision, I wish public figures making contributions to this debate would stick to the facts.
I am, etc.,
HOWARD A. GUTHRIE
andyguthrie@cwjamaica.com
Garveymeade, Bridgeport P.O.
St. Catherine
Via Go-Jamaica
