Mark Titus, Freelance Writer

Clayton Morgan (left), attorney-at-law and president of the Cornwall Bar Association, poses with Justice Seymour Panton (centre), president of the Court of Appeal, and Chief Justice Zaila McCalla following a function held in honour of the judges in St. Elizabeth, on Saturday. - Photo by Mark Titus

WESTERN BUREAU:

PRIME MINISTER Bruce Golding says Government will be giving the courts autonomy over their budgets at the start of the next fiscal year on April 1, 2008.

"We compromise the independence of the court if they have to keep hanging on to the hope of getting a warrant from the ministry at the start of each month," the Prime Minister said on Saturday night.

He was speaking in Luana, St. Elizabeth, during a function to honour the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Seymour Panton, and Chief Justice Zaila McCalla.

In a swift response, Justice Panton endorsed the Prime Minister's announcement. "I have always felt that the Chief Justice should have a budget to operate by," he said, adding that it is "invalid" for the Chief Justice or the persons in the courts to be asking the Permanent Secretary for approval to undertake every expense.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has repeated promises to make other significant and costly changes to the justice system to make it more effective.

"Justice, as many other things, has a price that for too long the society is unwilling to pay, but the time has come when we will have to confront that in a serious way," he told the gathering.

Golding said otherwise, there would be the danger of justice becoming like many other market economy commodities where only those who can afford it will get it.

Revising JP roles

The Prime Minister also said the Government is looking at reviewing the role and function of Justices of the Peace under a programme to initiate a dispute tribunal at the community level to deal with some of the rows that usually end up in the higher courts.

Chief Justice McCalla and Justice Panton were honoured for their appointments to the offices they now hold and for their recent conferral with national honours.

In response, Chief Justice McCalla paid tribute to those who contributed to her development over the years and called for the members of the legal fraternity to unite and to uphold the rule of law.

Leading personalities in the judiciary, including Dorothy Lightbourne, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General; Public Defender Earl Witter; Sam Bulgin, Attorney-General for the Cayman Islands, attended the function.