Outgoing CCJ president to be honoured at special court sitting in Antigua

The outgoing President of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Sir Dennis Byron, will be will be honoured with a special sitting of the regional court in Antigua next week.

The CCJ, which was established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council, as the region’s final court, will hold the special sitting on May 16.

“It is with much pride that I leave the CCJ after serving as President of the Court for seven years. I am most pleased to be marking the end of this phase of my career with a special sitting in Antigua and Barbuda, because of the very special place that the country has in my heart,” Sir Dennis said.

The St. Kitts-Nevis born prominent jurist, is the second Caribbean national to have been elected to serve as President of the Court that also functions as an international Tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the 15-member regional integration movement.

Trinidadian born Denis De La Bastide served as the first president of the court and Sir Dennis will be replaced by St. Vincent and the Grenadines jurist, Justice Adrian Saunders, who has been with the CCJ since its inception.

The sitting in Antigua is a ceremonial occasion to mark the end of Sir Dennis’ tenure at the CCJ.  Several speakers including representatives from the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, the Conference of the Judiciary, and the region’s Bar Associations are scheduled to pay tribute to Sir Dennis, to which various members of the local and regional legal fraternity have been invited to attend, the CCJ said in a statement.

Sir Dennis was first appointed as a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in 1982 after a distinguished career in private practice.

Subsequently, he served as Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. On September 1, 2011, he was sworn-in by the Governor-General of St Kitts and Nevis as the second President of the CCJ.

“Sir Dennis’s judicial career spans a total of 36 years throughout which time he left an indelible mark on each of the three judiciaries over which he presided both as a judge of high distinction and as a judicial reformer,” the CCJ added.

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