Two Justices Of Appeal Sworn In At State House

William Chandler and Jacqueline Cornelius-Thorne have been sworn in as two of Barbados’ new Justices Of Appeal.

During a brief swearing-in ceremony at State House on Friday, the two justices took their oaths before President Dame Sandra Mason.
In speaking to media personnel at the conclusion of the ceremony, Justice Chandler stated that the one of the processes he hoped to see more use of within the judicial system was settlements being used in civil cases.

“What I am hoping for is that practitioners and the public alike will embrace the new philosophy of rules in terms of settlement. We have not, over the years, developed that culture of settlement; this is still a very litigious society and that adds to the backlog. Hopefully, the lawyers would embrace the new culture under the new CPR – civil procedure rules – and will encourage settlement among litigants.”

Justice Cornelius-Thorne agreed, and added: “There are a number of things that would be useful to help judges generally; the judiciary is not as well-resourced as it should be in terms of personnel, in terms of technology, and I think the new chief justice has indicated already that he intends to do an administrative review to ensure that the needs of the judiciary are fully met. Once that is done, and it’s a continuing process, the aim of this Court of Appeal, and in fact this judiciary, is to reach a state of zero, that your disposition rate is actually higher than the matters coming in.”