Panton urges new KCs to help end Jamaica’s reliance on Privy Council

Former president of the Court of Appeal Justice (Ret’d) Seymour Panton has challenged Jamaica’s newly appointed King’s Counsel to use their influence to advance the country’s long-running effort to replace the United Kingdom-based Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as its final appellate court.

Speaking on Tuesday at the ceremony to call Deputy Solicitor General Lisa White, Director of Public Prosecutions Claudette Thompson, and veteran attorney Oswest Senior-Smith to the Inner Bar, Panton argued that the legal profession should play a greater role in advising the country’s political leadership on the future of Jamaica’s final court.

Triggering laughter when he revealed it was the first time he was late for court – blaming it on road conditions and traffic – Panton suggested that the Government had received poor advice in respect of the country’s final court, urging the new and existing King’s Counsel to reflect on the issue.

“I urge new King’s Counsel, existing King’s Counsel, and other lawyers to put their minds to giving advice that there is no alternative to the Caribbean Court of Justice,” he said.

His intervention comes amid continuing disagreement between Jamaica’s two major political parties over whether the country should retain the Privy Council or adopt the CCJ’s appellate jurisdiction as part of a wider constitutional reform process.

STUMBLING BLOCK

The debate has become a major stumbling block in efforts to transition Jamaica from a constitutional monarchy to a republic. While the People’s National Party has maintained that replacing the British monarch must be accompanied by adopting the CCJ as the final appellate court, the Jamaica Labour Party government has expressed a preference for a Jamaican-designed final court.

Panton, however, framed the issue as one of completing Jamaica’s journey away from its colonial past, questioning why the country should continue to rely on a court in England more than six decades after Independence.

He drew a comparison with the establishment of a Faculty of Law in the West Indies, recalling that the initiative faced considerable opposition before becoming an important source of legal education and talent for the region.

REGIONAL APEX

He argued that just as the Faculty of Law benefited from the foresight of those who championed it, Jamaica’s legal community should help advance the case for a regional final court.

“It is nonsensical to be thinking that after 60-odd years we should still be in the colonial state of having our final court in England,” Panton said.

The question of replacing the Privy Council has remained contentious for decades. Previous efforts to make the CCJ Jamaica’s final court encountered legal challenges, with the Privy Council ruling in 2005 that legislation passed by Parliament to facilitate the change was unconstitutional because the required procedures had not been followed.

More recently, disagreement over the final appellate court has complicated the constitutional reform agenda, with the two main political parties differing over whether the issue should be settled alongside the move to republican status or addressed separately.

Panton urged the newly elevated attorneys to use their standing within the profession to help shape the discussion, suggesting that doing so would benefit future generations.

He ended by wishing the new King’s Counsel well as they assume their responsibilities, thanking those who had supported them throughout their careers and contributed to their elevation to the Inner Bar.

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