Chief Justice of Belize

Last updated
Chief Justice of Belize
230e8d30651bb12eaf7c08daef590654louise blenman.jpg
Incumbent
Louise Blenman
since 2 September 2022
Supreme Court of Belize
Office of the Chief Justice
Style The Honourable Madam Chief Justice
StatusChief Justice, head of the Supreme Court of Belize
Member of Supreme Court of Belize
Seat Supreme Court Building,
Belize City,
Belize,
Central America
Nominator Prime Minister
Appointer Governor General
Term length No set term, though retirement is mandatory at age 65.
Constituting instrument Constitution of Belize
Inaugural holderRobert Temble
Formation1843
Website www.belizejudiciary.org

The chief justice of Belize is the head of the Supreme Court of Belize. Under Chapter 7 of the Constitution of Belize, the chief justice is appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the prime minister. [1]

Contents

Since the retirement of Kenneth Benjamin in March 2020, Michelle Arana was the acting chief justice of Belize. [2] Louise Blenman was appointed to fill the vacancy in September 2022. [3]

List of chief justices

The full list as published by the attorney general of Belize: [4]

  1. Robert Temple Esq., 1843–1861

British Honduras (1862-1973)

  1. Richard J. Connor, 1862
  2. William Alexander Parker, 1875–1881
  3. Sir Henry Rawlins Pipon Schooles, 1881 (later Administrator of Grenada, 1887 and Attorney General of Jamaica, 1896)
  4. William Anthony Musgrave Sheriff, 1883–1886
  5. Sir William Meigh Goodman, 1886–1889
  6. Sir William John Anderson, 1890–1900 (afterwards Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago, 1900)
  7. Sir Walter Llewellyn Lewis, 1900–1906 [5]
  8. Frederic Mackenzie Maxwell, 1906–1911 (afterwards Chief Justice of the Leeward Islands, 1912)
  9. Sir Walter Sidney Shaw, 1912–1914
  10. Sir Robert Blair Roden, 1915–1921
  11. Herbert Kortright McDonnell Sisnett, 1922–1931
  12. Charles Wilton Wood Greenidge, 1932–1936
  13. Sir Arthur Kirwan Agar, 1936–1940
  14. Sir Carleton George Langley, 1940–1947 [6]
  15. Frederick Malcolm Boland, 1948–1949
  16. Sir Alfred Victor Crane, 1950–1954
  17. Erskine Rueul La Tourette Ward, 1955–1957
  18. Sir Clifford De Lisle Inniss, 1957–1972

Belize (1973–)

  1. Arthur Richard Franklin Dickson, 1973–1974
  2. Sir Denis Eustace Gilbert Malone, 1974–1979
  3. Albert L. Staine, CBE, 1979–1982
  4. George C. R. Moe, QC, 1982–1985
  5. Taufik Cotran, CBE, 1986–1990
  6. Sir George N. Brown, 1990–1998
  7. George Singh, 1998
  8. Manuel Sosa, CBE, SC, 1998–1999
  9. Dr. Abdulai Osman Conteh, 2000–2010 [7]
  10. Kenneth Benjamin, 2011 [8] -2020
  11. Louise Blenman, 2022 [9] -Present

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuel Esquivel</span> Belizean politician (1940–2022)

Sir Manuel Amadeo Esquivel was a Belizean politician. As leader of the United Democratic Party, he served as the second prime minister of Belize from 1984 to 1989, and then again from 1993 to 1998. His party's victory in 1984 was the first time an opposition party had won a general election in Belize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Football Federation of Belize</span> Governing body of football in Belize

The Football Federation of Belize (FFB), formerly known as the Belize National Football Association (BNFA) and founded in 1980, is the governing body of football in Belize. It is a member of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), CONCACAF, and Union Centroamericana de Fútbol (UNCAF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Belize</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Belize face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT citizens, although attitudes have been changing in recent years. Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in Belize in 2016, when the Supreme Court declared Belize's anti-sodomy law unconstitutional. Belize's constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, which Belizean courts have interpreted to include sexual orientation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Blenman</span> Guyanese lawyer and jurist

Louise Esther Blenman is a former Appellate Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and the current Chief Justice of Belize. She was the first woman to ever be appointed to the post. On 22nd November 2022, she was sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the High Court and the Court of Appeal after the successful passage of the Senior Courts Act.

The Supreme Court of Judicature of Belize is one of three types of courts in Belize, the lower ones being the Magistrate's Courts and the Court of Appeal. It is a court of original jurisdiction in both civil and criminal cases as well as an appellate court. It is governed by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (SCJA).

Douglas "Dough" Singh is a Belizean politician and a member of the United Democratic Party. He is the former Minister of Police and Public Security in Prime Minister Dean Barrow's cabinet 2010.

Bernard Quentin Augustus Pitts CBE, often known by his initials as B. Q. Pitts, is a Belizean politician and a member of the United Democratic Party of Belize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of Sierra Leone</span> National supreme court

The Supreme Court of Sierra Leone is the highest court in Sierra Leone. It has final jurisdiction in all civil, criminal, and constitutional cases within Sierra Leone, and its decisions cannot be appealed. The Supreme Court has the exclusive constitutional power to overturn ruling of lower courts within the jurisdiction of Sierra Leone. The Supreme Court, along with the Court of Appeals, High Court of Justice, and magistrate courts form the Judicial branch of the Government of Sierra Leone.

Edmee Yolanda Schakron-Rodríguez is a Belizean activist and People's United Party candidate, best known as the aunt of murder victim Chris Galvez and a founder and president of Belizeans For Justice. Schakron was briefly the PUP standard bearer for the Lake Independence House constituency in 2012, but her candidacy was disallowed due to her dual citizenship at the time in Belize and the United States, after which she renounced U.S. citizenship. Schakron was the unsuccessful PUP nominee for Mayor of Belize City in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Benjamin (judge)</span>

Kenneth Andrew Charles Benjamin is a Caribbean jurist. A dual national of Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, he served as Chief Justice of Belize from 15 September 2011 to 20 March 2020.

Troadio John Gonzalez is a justice of the Supreme Court of Belize.

Sir Manuel Sosa CBE is a former president of the Belize Court of Appeal, a position he held from 3 January 2011 to 24 December 2020, the longest term of any holder of that office.

Sir George Noel Brown was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Belize from 1991 to 1998, the second native-born Belizean to sit in that position.

Samuel Lungole Awich is a Commonwealth jurist, whose career has taken him from his native Uganda to Botswana, the Solomon Islands, and for the past decade Belize.

The Attorney-General of Belize is a cabinet-level official who acts as the principal legal adviser to the government of Belize.

The Solicitor-General of Belize is a law officer of the government of Belize, subordinate to the Attorney-General of Belize. The office is defined briefly by the Constitution of Belize, which mentions it as one of the ex officio members of the Public Services Commission. In 1999, after Gian Ghandi was removed from the SG position, the role's responsibilities were revised; in particular, court administrative and financial functions were transferred to the Permanent Secretary of the Attorney-General's Ministry, while law drafting became the responsibility of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, then Elson Kaseke. From 2008 to 2009 the office of Solicitor-General was vacant, leading to criticism of PM Dean Barrow.

The Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) is a law school in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Attorney-General of Barbados is the primary legal advisor to the Government of Barbados.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Arana</span> Belizean judge

Michelle Agnes Arana is a Belizean judge who served as acting Chief Justice of Belize from 7 April 2020 to 2 September 2022. She was appointed the first female justice of the Supreme Court of Belize in 2006.

The following lists events in the year 2022 in Belize.

References

  1. ↑ "Structure, composition, and jurisdiction". Government of Belize. Archived from the original on 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
  2. 1 2 Parks, Rowland A. (21 March 2020). "Supreme Court Justice Michelle Arana will act as Chief Justice". Amandala . Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  3. ↑ "New Chief Justice of Belize Louise Blenman sworn in". 2 September 2022.
  4. ↑ "Chief Justices of Belize, 1843 to 2000". Attorney General of Belize. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
  5. ↑ "No. 27173". The London Gazette . 13 March 1900. p. 1709.
  6. ↑ "No. 34847". The London Gazette . 10 May 1940. p. 2807.
  7. ↑ Humes, Aaron (2010-01-10). "The end of an era: Chief Justice Dr. Abdulai Conteh retires". Amandala . Retrieved 2012-04-18.
  8. ↑ Trapp, Adele (2011-07-29). "Guyanese jurist, Kenneth Benjamin, 56, to succeed Conteh". Amandala . Archived from the original on 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2012-04-18.
  9. ↑ Humes, Aaron (2022-06-23). "Government identifies new Chief Justice of Belize".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.