Caribbean Court Of Justice Cases Now Included In International Constitutional Law Database

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, May 27, 2017 (CMC) – The Trinidad and Tobago-based Caribbean Court of Justice’s (CCJ) first submission to the European Commission on Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) has now been published in the Commission’s CODICES database.

The submission comprised the summary of a case, from Barbados, in which the regional court dismissed the appeal and made significant pronouncements on Constitutional issues.

In late 2015, the CCJ was invited to enter into a co-operation arrangement with the Venice Commission – the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters — to have its decisions, and their summaries, in cases concerning Constitutional law and human rights law issues, to be included in CODICES.

These cases span both the Appellate and Original Jurisdictions of the Court.

CODICES is the Venice Commission’s free, public access InfoBase on Constitutional case law, which provides access to over 8,000 judgments and summaries in cases decided by Constitutional Courts and courts, which deal with similar matters, including international courts.

It was established by the Commission’s Secretariat in Strasbourg and hosts decisions and summaries in English, French and other languages.

According to Tanja Gerwien of the Constitutional Justice Division of the Commission, the database “greatly facilitates comparative research and is an important source of inspiration for judges and constitutional practitioners”.

CCJ President, Sir Dennis Byron, said the Court takes pride in being afforded the opportunity to contribute to the advancement of jurisprudence in human rights law, on an international scale, through the publication of its decisions on CODICES.”