Above: the Justices of the CCJ

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Caribbean Court of Justice is holding its first-ever sitting in Guyana this week.

The full bench of the CCJ heard three cases on Monday, with the hearings set to conclude on Wednesday. All of the cases originated in Guyana.

The cases are being heard at the Guyana International Conference Centre.

The panel includes CCJ President Sir Charles Dennis Byron and Justices Winston Anderson, Adrian Saunders, Jacob Witt, and David Hayton

This is the third time the CCJ has held an itinerant sitting, following similar sittings in Barbados and Jamaica.

“The court views these itinerant sittings as important to ensuring that it is accessible to the people of the Caribbean Community which it serves,” the court said in a release.

Guyana is one of few Caribbean countries that send appeals to the CCJ, along with Barbados and Belize.

Dominica has recently signaled that it intends to accede to the court, while Trinidad announced last year that it would send criminal, but not civil, appeals to the CCJ.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council remains the final court of appeal for the majority of the Commonwealth Caribbean.

The CCJ is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad.