A.J. Nicholson | Mischief in Port-of-Spain

“Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot. Take now what course thou wilt.” That was the approach adopted by Mark Antony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar after the assassination.

Persons with special interests in Port-of-Spain planted the seed of mischief through the publication, in a leading newspaper, of the contents of leaked emails containing private internal conversations among judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

The contents of the copious emails had nothing to do with the core functioning of the court, namely, the structural operations and the high quality of scholarship embodied in its judgments, attributes that have reaped global acclaim for the two-decade-old final appellate court.

The proper delivery of justice remains intact and unchallenged.

Those persons, however, knew that the fact that the leaked emails concerned only peripheral internal issues commonly found in organisations and institutions everywhere, in this case, matters such as mode of dress, the alleged dictatorial tendencies of the president, and which judges are chosen to sit on which cases, would not prevent shallow thinkers and anti-CCJ zealots from having a field day spouting full-throated criticism.

Here in Jamaica, no such weakly motivated initiative should be allowed to cause any shift in focus, namely, the reality that access to justice in the highest court remains, in practice, a privilege enjoyed primarily by wealthy citizens.

Generations of the overwhelming majority of Jamaicans have been unjustly denied unimpeded access to final justice.

That cardinal deprivation must, unquestionably, be corrected. Sidetracking cannot be allowed, or even contemplated, in a country whose leaders claim that we are “celebrating independence with a resilient, emancipated people”.

The exercise of the privilege of access to final justice in Jamaica is, decidedly, a stark symbol of a lopsided society divided between the haves and the have-nots.

Leaks of disagreements among judges of the United States Supreme Court, for example, regularly make global news, including, notably, when certain matters are pending.

Judges of that court are often publicly at each other’s throats. Speaking of claims of dictatorial and anti-democratic tendencies, one need only ask Chief Justice Roberts.

During the last century, the maverick genius Lord Denning, in the British justice system, much to the annoyance and consternation of his brethren, frequently dissented until many of his positions became widely accepted.

There are differences among judges precisely because they are lawyers.

Such differences, and even leaks concerning internal disagreements, gratefully, do not dent the core functioning of the proper administration of justice.

The seed of mischief planted in Port-of-Spain must not be allowed to germinate.

A.J. Nicholson is former minister of justice and attorney general of Jamaica. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.