INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO ADVISORY OPINION OF THE CARIBBEAN COURT OF JUSTICE IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST FROM THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARIBBEAN CT. J.)

摘要

The Caribbean Court of Justice (hereinafter CCJ or Court) was inaugurated in 2005. It is unique in the sense that it combines two heads of jurisdiction: (a) An Appellate Jurisdiction, which addresses municipal law cases on appeal from countries which accept this jurisdiction. To date, four Caribbean countries-Barbados, Guyana, Belize and Dominica - have accepted the appellate jurisdiction of the Court. The applicable law for each case under the appellate jurisdiction is the national law of the state from which the appeal emanates. The CCJ in its Appellate Jurisdiction is intended to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the final court of appeal for Caribbean countries which were formerly British colonies.