The introduction of high-tech to the high court comes complete with an official website which can be accessed by members of the Bar and the general public.
The announcement was made Tuesday during the brief special sitting of the Court of Appeal (COA) to mark the opening of the legal year.
President of the COA, Dame Joan Sawyer during the sitting, welcomed one of the leading law lord’s in the House of Lord’s – Lord Bingham of Cornhill and his wife, Lady Elizabeth, to The Bahamas.
“We are cognizant of the fact that the Privy Council is the final court of appeal for The Bahamas and we honour their work for this jurisdiction. We tend to follow them, because we must,” she stressed.
The president highlighted at the session that the Registrar for the COA created a website for the court which was prepared for access. In addition she hoped judgments would appear on the website as soon as they are available, as well as the cause list for the court. The new initiative is hoped to expedite court processes and make counsel aware of court dates as necessary to avoid adjournments, she said. “We hope that too. will lead to a more efficient administration of justice in the future,” the president stated.
Madam President said that the registrar has also produced a second annual report for the work done in the court during the previous year. “That is our way of accounting for the work of this court,” she noted.
According to the report produced, between the period Nov. 1, 2002 to Oct. 31, 2003 the appellate court heard 120 magisterial appeals of the 139 presented to it. Of the 120, 101 were dismissed, five were allowed, four were abandoned, three were struck out and seven were withdrawn.
During that same period 38 new appeals were filed from the Supreme Court. From that number, 14 transcripts were received from the Court Reporting Unit, which it allowed the court to dispose of. There were five appeals on murder with two being dismissed and three being allowed; six for armed robbery with four dismissed and two allowed; three for manslaughter with one dismissed and two allowed. On the issue of civil matters 74 new appeals were filed, with 59 being heard.
Madam president said that “the administration of justice to the economic and social well being of a country is too important… too vital to be left to chance. It is too important to be left to… laissez-faire “It must always be at the forefront.”
Moreover she invited members of the Bar to strive for excellence in the administration of justice, always putting their best effort forward.
Wayne Munroe, President of the Bar Association also briefly addressed the gathering of legal minds. He too referred to the comment from the bench “that the administration of justice, which is our business, is a co-operative exercise and we at the bar have from year to year, sat and listened to successive chief justices and madam president address us on this issue.”
Mr. Munroe directed those in attendance to Section five of the Legal Profession Act, which he said “is the section of the legal profession act that deals with the duties of the Bahamas Bar Council (BBC). It demonstrates the cooperative nature of the business that we are involved in. The only specific duties imposed upon the BBC by statute are as follows: The first is to maintain the honour and independence of the Bar. The second duty is to encourage legal education and promotion of the study of jurisprudence.”
Mr. Munroe inserted that the study of the Bahamian Legal history was another area that needed to be considered as a duty of the Bar. “The Bar Council intends to put our senior members on the spot to accommodate us in that desire. The third duty is the promotion of standards of etiquette and professional conduct required of the members of the Bar,” he said.
“The fourth duty is the protection of the public right to have access to the courts and the right of representation by members of the Bar before courts and tribunals. The fifth duty is the encouragement of the improvement of justice and procedures including the arrangement for legal aid for persons in need thereof,” he stated.
He said that the Bar also had a duty for the promotion and support of law reform. “There is also a duty to further relations between members of the Bar and lawyers from other countries,” he said during his succinct address.
By Jimenta Swain, The Nassau Guardian
