GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC - Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General Irwin LaRocque has welcomed the ruling by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of Appeal that St. Lucia does not require to stage a referendum before it joins the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
LaRocque said that in confirming the procedure to be followed by St. Lucia to have the CCJ as its final court replacing the London-based Privy Council, the sub-regional court has set the course for the continuation of St. Lucia’s road to judicial independence as well as point the way for other countries with similar provisions in their constitutions.
LaRocque said this judgment was a seminal one in the progress towards more countries accepting the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ.