NEWS
Former Judge Encourages Citizens to Seek Their DAY IN COURT
Privy Council and the Caribbean Court of Justice . In particular, he referred to landmark judgements delivered in cases from Trinidad and Tobago, such as Harrikissoon v Attorney General (1980), Jaroo v Attorney General (2002), and Ramanoop v Attorney General (2005). Cases in Barbados, Belize, and Guyana were also mentioned. The professor pointed out areas of concern with some of the judgements, which he said could have been made clearer to avoid misinterpretation and noted the Privy Council repeatedly warned against abuse of process. He surmised that the 2002 matter involving Jaroo brought a sudden and welcomed halt to the unrelenting abuse of the court’s jurisdiction to grant constitutional relief: “That unruly horse in the 1980s and 1990s and early 2000s has now been tamed. The alternative remedies, under the common law or statute, must be pursued before constitutional proceedings are brought. The exhaustion of remedies principle is either expressly stated in some constitutions or implied in others. In my view, even where it has been removed, it can still be implied and applied by the courts.”
L andmark court decisions with major implications for abuse of process should not deter citizens with meritorious claims from pursuing legal action in the courts, argues respected regional jurist and Dean of the Faculty of Law at The UWI, Cave Hill, Professor Eddy Ventose. At the same time, he acknowledged that abuse of process, described as people misusing the legal process for purposes other than intended, was a challenge in the Commonwealth Caribbean at one time but said this has since been brought under control. Professor Ventose opined on the matter during a lecture on the topic “Taming the Unruly Horse: Abuse of Constitutional Proceedings in the Commonwealth Caribbean” held on 23 November 2022 and organised by the School for Graduate Studies and Research, Cave Hill Campus. He pointed out that most constitutions in the region under review have a proviso that the High Court shall not exercise its powers if it does not believe an individual has utilised all other available avenues for redress under the law. “The courts essentially are put there as the sentinel standing at the door of
Professor Eddy Ventose Dean, Faculty of Law The UWI, Cave Hill Campus
Dean Ventose is well-versed in constitutional law, having written
the constitution. So before you can come through the door with a constitutional claim, the courts are there to say ‘wait a minute, you cannot bring this claim if you have a claim at common law’. But while the courts need to be vigilant to prevent abuse of its processes, that cannot be used to prevent or deter citizens from invoking the constitutional redress provision. If they, in good faith, believe there is some feature, which means that their claim should be adjudicated by the constitutional court, then they should be allowed to pursue that process.” Professor Ventose made note of some legal challenges that reached as far as the
extensively on the topic in recent years. Overall, the former judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has authored over 70 publications, including on intellectual property and administrative law. He has won both the Principal’s Award for Excellence in Research and the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research. In 2012, at age 35, he became the youngest person in the history of The University of the West Indies to be promoted to the rank of professor. l
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