Barbados’ two new Justices of Appeal, William Chandler and Jacqueline Cornelius Thorne, were sworn in on Friday, May 31, at State House, by President of Barbados, Her Excellency, The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason.
At the end of the brief ceremony, which was witnessed by families and friends, Dame Sandra congratulated them and wished them well. She said she was aware of their commitment and ability and expressed confidence that they would give of their best.
Justice Chandler was called to the Bar in 1981 when he was 23 years old. He was asked to act as a judge some years later and acceded to the request.
“I must say that it has been a wonderful experience. The initial thought of being a judge was not within my contemplation when I was called to the Bar, to be frank.”
“But having served as an acting judge, and having been called by the then Chief Justice to serve as a permanent judge, I have enjoyed the experience, the interactions with lawyers and the public generally, because it is the public that we serve and it has been a rewarding experience,” he told the media.
Chandler is hopeful that lawyers and members of the public will fully embrace the civil procedure rules which are currently being utilised.
“So, hopefully the lawyers will embrace the new culture under the new civil procedure rules, [that] will encourage settlement amongst litigants. What that will do is it will reduce time, it will save litigants cost because we must be conscious of the fact that legal fees don’t come down, they go up. Court costs also go up.”
“I think the public must embrace the new culture, as well as the lawyers, so that we have less matters coming before the court. The new civil procedure rules cannot work by themselves without a culture of settlement and without a culture of negotiation,” he explained.
Madam Justice Cornelius Thorne was called to the Bar in 1988, and has been on the Bench for 18 years.
She is pleased with her appointment and looks forward to fulfilling her duties. She continued:
“It’s always good to look at the development of our law from a different perspective. Between the two of us, Justice Chandler and myself, we probably have nearly 40 years of judicial experience. So there isn’t much that we haven’t seen and we both have had experience on the Court of Appeal before.”
“So, we are really looking to move forward the work of the Court of Appeal, together with the Chief Justice and the other judges. This is the first time that there have been two full panels and we hope that we will be able to really move faster and stronger and better.”
Madam Justice Cornelius Thorne added that it is an honour to serve her country. “It’s always a privilege and an honour to serve the country that has nurtured us, educated us, and essentially given us a safe place to live. There are many places in the world that people can’t say that and it’s an honour and a privilege to serve,” she reiterated.
SOURCE: Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS).
