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The chief justice is the presiding member of a supreme court in any of many countries with a justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of Singapore, the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong, the Supreme Court of Japan, the Supreme Court of India, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Supreme Court of Nepal, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Supreme Court of Ireland, the Supreme Court of New Zealand, the High Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of the United States, and provincial or state supreme courts/high courts.
The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial court and the final court of appeal under the Constitution of India, the highest constitutional court, with the power of judicial review. Consisting of the Chief Justice of India and a maximum of 33 judges, it has extensive powers in the form of original, appellate and advisory jurisdictions.
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) is the head of the judiciary of India and the Supreme Court of India. The CJI also heads their administrative functions.
The British Windward Islands was a British colony in the Windward Islands of the West Indies, existing between 1833 and 1960 and consisting of the islands of Grenada, St Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines, Barbados, Tobago, and Dominica, previously included in the British Leeward Islands.
Sir Leonard Joseph Knowles, CBE was the first Chief Justice of the Bahamas of an independent Bahamas.
Dame Joan Augusta Sawyer, DBE, PC is a Bahamian judge. She was Chief Justice of the Bahamas from 1996 to 2001 and President of the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas from 2001 to 2010. She was the first woman to ever serve in those two positions.
English common law forms the basis of the Bahamas’ judicial system.
Sir Burton P. C. Hall, KSS, KHS is a Judge of the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. He is the presiding judge in the case of the Prosecutor v. Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović. He previously served as a Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, a position he was elected to in August, 2009. Hall served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas on 1 February 1991 and then as a Justice of Court of Appeal of The Bahamas from April 1997. On 5 September 2001 he was confirmed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas, a position he occupied until 2009.
The Supreme Court of the Bahamas is the third highest court in the adjudicative hierarchy of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The court was created by Article 93(1) of the Constitution. Before that, the Supreme Court was governed by the Supreme Court Act of 1896.
The basis of the Bahamian Law and legal system lies within the English Common Law tradition. Justices of the Supreme Court, Registrars and Magistrates are all appointed by The Governor-General acting on the advice of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission, which is composed of five individuals who are headed by the Chief Justice as their chairman. The Chief Justice and the Justices of the Court of Appeal, including the President, are appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition. Once appointed, the salaries and other terms of appointment of the Chief Justice, Justices of Appeal and Justices of the Supreme Court cannot be altered to their disadvantage. Justices of the Supreme Court can serve until the age of 65 years and, where agreed among the judge, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, may serve until the age of 67. Justices of Appeal can serve until the age of 68 years and, where agreed among the judge, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, may serve until the age of 70 years. The law of The Bahamas makes provisions for the appointment of 12 Justices to the Bench of the Supreme Court, inclusive of the Chief Justice, and for five Justices of the Court of Appeal, inclusive of the President. The Chief Justice, as Head of the Judiciary, is an ex officio member of the Court of Appeal, but only sits at the invitation of the President.
Sir Denis Eustace Gilbert Malone was a British jurist in the Caribbean.
Vivian O. Blake QC was a Jamaican lawyer and politician. He served as president of the Jamaican Bar Association and chairman of the Bar Council's Disciplinary Committee, and became chief justice of the Bahamas.
Sir Cyril Stanley Smith Fountain is a Bahamian judge and lawyer.
The Chief Justice of St Vincent was the head of the Supreme Court of Saint Vincent in Saint Vincent, an island member of the Windward Islands in the West Indies.
Sir Hartman Godfrey Longley is the former Chief Justice of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas having been sworn in February 2, 2015.
James Alfred Smith was Chief Justice of the Bahamas from 7 July 1978 to 11 May 1980.
Sir Ralph Abercrombie Campbell was Chief Justice of the Bahamas from 10 August 1960 to 31 May 1970.
Sir (William) Gordon Bryce (1913–2004) CBE was Chief Justice of the Bahamas from 1 June 1970 to 30 June 1973.
References
- ↑ "Former Justices of the Supreme Court" (PDF). Supreme Court of the Bahamas. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
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