Judiciary of Barbados
Encyclopedia
The Judiciary of Barbados is an independent branch of the Barbadian government, subject only to the Barbadian Constitution
. It is headed up by the Attorney General
of Barbados. Barbados is a common law
jurisdiction, in which precedents from English law
and British Commonwealth tradition may be taken into account.
The Magistrates' Courts (lower court) have of summary jurisdiction
dealing with civil, family, and criminal matters. But can also take up matters dealing with Corornor's Inquests, Liquor Licences, and civil marriages. The Magistrates' Courts also deal with Contract and Tort law where claims do not exceed $10,000.00.
The Magistrate courts in Barbados include:
of three Justices of Appeal.
All criminal cases (both summary and indictable) commence in the Magistrates' Court. Summary cases are heard in full by the Magistrates' Court. Indictable cases proceed to the High Court after a preliminary inquiry is conducted to determine that there is a prima facie
case to answer. Once judgement is passed, a case may be appealed by either party and will then proceed to the Appeal Court. The number and severity of criminal cases dealt with by each level of the courts varies, as does the level of detail that is recorded (specifically the reasons for adjournment
).
and Belize
), that recognises the Caribbean Court of Justice
as their final court of appeal. In matters of human rights
, Barbados is one of a handful of countries in the Americas, and the only one in the Anglophone Caribbean that fully accepts judgements by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
. http://caricomnewsnetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4397%3Abarbados-inter-american-court-plans-special-session-in-barbados&catid=54%3Alatest-news&Itemid=396 In recent months some pressure has been placed on the government to withdraw from the Inter-American Court. Like Trinidad and Tobago
, Barbados applied to reserve powers dealing with death penalty for persons convicted of murder, however it is not yet clear whether Barbados will be granted such a waiver on that aspect of law which it inherited from the United Kingdom. Recent polls have showed favourable support for the return of captial punishment to general usage for persons convicted of murder. This of course is only carried out after a lengthy process of appeals. In sharp contrast to Barbados, Jamaica
, The Bahamas
, and Trinidad and Tobago
also all within CARICOM instead utilizes the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights
.
(of the United Kingdom), ruled that Barbados' Constitution was clear with respect to the death penalty. However, it ruled that to carry out such sentences it required that Barbados and other Caribbean Islands carry out trials at a quicker pace. In response to this verdict, the Barbados government announced that the country would be leaving the jurisdiction of the Privy Council and would further consider becoming a republic.
Since then, calls have continued to be made by members of the local legal profession ridiculing the length of time which court cases in Barbados take to be fully adjudicated. Other criticism has been that the court process was appearing to be breaking downhttp://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/shame/
Since Barbados left the jurisdiction of the JCPC, similar sentiments have been expressed and re-iterated in 2010 by the Caribbean Court of Justice which Barbados replaced the JCPC with.
In 2011 Owen Arthur
, the Leader of the Opposition announced that the BLP would not support http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/cj-hitch/,http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=local&NewsID=15232 the ruling party's goals to amend Barbadian law to allow for the appointment of Marston Gibson as the next Chief Justice of Barbados.http://www.nationnews.com/index.php/articles/view/owen-no-way1/#10357http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/Gibson-eyed-for-Chief-Justice-post/ Questions surround the fact that Mr. Gibson has not maintained the requisite 15 years of practice as an attorney-at-law in Barbados.http://vob929.ocmnet.net/vob/news/localnews/10-12-15/Doubt_surrounds_Chief_Justice_post.aspxhttp://news.barbadostoday.bb/barticle.php?ptitle=No%20support%20from%20Bees&article=1648 The governing DLP maintains that it plans to proceed as planned by amending that stipulation from the Barbados Supreme Court Judicature Acthttp://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=columnists&NewsID=15320
Constitution of Barbados
The Constitution of Barbados is the supreme law under which Barbados is governed. The Constitution provides a legal establishment of the structure and various roles of administration of the Sovereign , the Vice-Royal , the Government of Barbados, as well as legal rights and responsibilities of the...
. It is headed up by the Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
of Barbados. Barbados is a common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
jurisdiction, in which precedents from English law
English law
English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States except Louisiana...
and British Commonwealth tradition may be taken into account.
Structure
There are three levels of courts in Barbados, structured as follows:- The Magistrates' Courts
- The Supreme courtSupreme Court of BarbadosThe Supreme Court of Judicature of Barbados is the highest judicial body in the country of Barbados. It is made up of the High Court and the Court of Appeals....
, made up of:- The High Court
- The Court of Appeal
The Magistrates' Courts (lower court) have of summary jurisdiction
Summary jurisdiction
Summary jurisdiction, in the widest sense of the phrase, in English law includes the power asserted by courts of record to deal brevi manu with contempts of court without the intervention of a jury. Probably the power was originally exercisable only when the fact was notorious, i.e. done in...
dealing with civil, family, and criminal matters. But can also take up matters dealing with Corornor's Inquests, Liquor Licences, and civil marriages. The Magistrates' Courts also deal with Contract and Tort law where claims do not exceed $10,000.00.
The Magistrate courts in Barbados include:
- District A | Bridgetown, Saint Michael
- Criminal Court
- Traffic Court
- District A & C | Saint Matthias, Christ Church
- District B | Saint George
- District B | Oistins, Christ Church
- District C | See under Saint Matthias
- District D | Saint Thomas & District F (Belleplaine, Saint Andrew)
- District E | Speightstown, Saint Peter
- Holetown, Saint James
- District F | Saint Joseph
Supreme Court of Judicature
The High Court has a more expansive jurisdiction than the magistrates courts - dealing with serious civil and criminal matters and together with the Court of Appeal, acting as a Court of Appeal for matters coming from the magistrate courts. The Court of Appeal may also hear appeals from the High Court. The High Court and the Court of Appeal make up the Supreme Court. It may sit as a single Justice of Appeal in Chambers, or as Full CourtFull Court
A Full Court refers to a court consisting of a greater-than-normal number of judges. Thus, in relation to a court usually presided over by a single judge, a Full Court would comprise a bench of three judges; for a court which, like many appellate courts, normally comprises three judges, a Full...
of three Justices of Appeal.
All criminal cases (both summary and indictable) commence in the Magistrates' Court. Summary cases are heard in full by the Magistrates' Court. Indictable cases proceed to the High Court after a preliminary inquiry is conducted to determine that there is a prima facie
Prima facie
Prima facie is a Latin expression meaning on its first encounter, first blush, or at first sight. The literal translation would be "at first face", from the feminine form of primus and facies , both in the ablative case. It is used in modern legal English to signify that on first examination, a...
case to answer. Once judgement is passed, a case may be appealed by either party and will then proceed to the Appeal Court. The number and severity of criminal cases dealt with by each level of the courts varies, as does the level of detail that is recorded (specifically the reasons for adjournment
Adjournment
An adjournment is a suspension of proceedings to another time or place. To adjourn means to suspend until a later stated time or place.-Law:In law, to adjourn means to suspend proceedings to another time or place, or to end them....
).
Further appeals
Barbados is one of three nations (along with GuyanaGuyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
and Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
), that recognises the Caribbean Court of Justice
Caribbean Court of Justice
The Caribbean Court of Justice is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community . Established in 2001, it is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago....
as their final court of appeal. In matters of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, Barbados is one of a handful of countries in the Americas, and the only one in the Anglophone Caribbean that fully accepts judgements by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States , which serves to uphold and...
. http://caricomnewsnetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4397%3Abarbados-inter-american-court-plans-special-session-in-barbados&catid=54%3Alatest-news&Itemid=396 In recent months some pressure has been placed on the government to withdraw from the Inter-American Court. Like Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, Barbados applied to reserve powers dealing with death penalty for persons convicted of murder, however it is not yet clear whether Barbados will be granted such a waiver on that aspect of law which it inherited from the United Kingdom. Recent polls have showed favourable support for the return of captial punishment to general usage for persons convicted of murder. This of course is only carried out after a lengthy process of appeals. In sharp contrast to Barbados, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, The Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
, and Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
also all within CARICOM instead utilizes the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
.
Criticism
In the 1990s the Judicial Committee of the Privy CouncilJudicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
(of the United Kingdom), ruled that Barbados' Constitution was clear with respect to the death penalty. However, it ruled that to carry out such sentences it required that Barbados and other Caribbean Islands carry out trials at a quicker pace. In response to this verdict, the Barbados government announced that the country would be leaving the jurisdiction of the Privy Council and would further consider becoming a republic.
Since then, calls have continued to be made by members of the local legal profession ridiculing the length of time which court cases in Barbados take to be fully adjudicated. Other criticism has been that the court process was appearing to be breaking downhttp://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/shame/
Since Barbados left the jurisdiction of the JCPC, similar sentiments have been expressed and re-iterated in 2010 by the Caribbean Court of Justice which Barbados replaced the JCPC with.
In 2011 Owen Arthur
Owen Arthur
Owen Seymour Arthur, MP was the fifth Prime Minister of Barbados who was in office from 1994 to 2008 and is the current Leader of Opposition in Barbados. To date, he is the longest serving Barbadian Prime Minister....
, the Leader of the Opposition announced that the BLP would not support http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/cj-hitch/,http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=local&NewsID=15232 the ruling party's goals to amend Barbadian law to allow for the appointment of Marston Gibson as the next Chief Justice of Barbados.http://www.nationnews.com/index.php/articles/view/owen-no-way1/#10357http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/Gibson-eyed-for-Chief-Justice-post/ Questions surround the fact that Mr. Gibson has not maintained the requisite 15 years of practice as an attorney-at-law in Barbados.http://vob929.ocmnet.net/vob/news/localnews/10-12-15/Doubt_surrounds_Chief_Justice_post.aspxhttp://news.barbadostoday.bb/barticle.php?ptitle=No%20support%20from%20Bees&article=1648 The governing DLP maintains that it plans to proceed as planned by amending that stipulation from the Barbados Supreme Court Judicature Acthttp://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=columnists&NewsID=15320