A public church service will be held at St John’s Anglican Church in Montserrat on Friday, 10 January, to mark the start of the new law year.
The service will begin at 8am and be followed by a mini parade to the temporary court house at the Arts and Education Centre in Brades where an inspection of the guard will be held.
Similar ceremonies will be held the same morning across the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court’s other eight member states and territories.
The main ceremonial opening will take place in Saint Lucia, where the first scheduled sitting for the Court of Appeal for 2025 will occur.
This will be held under the theme, ‘Accessibility and awareness – The ECSC bridging the gap through community engagement’.
During a special sitting, the Acting Chief Justice Mario Michel will deliver a feature address and the island’s attorney general will also speak.
Other speakers from the member states and territories will connect using the Zoom video conference platform.
This will be broadcast live on the Saint Lucia Information Services platforms, the court’s website and Facebook page and the government information services of the various members.
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court was established in 1967 by the West Indies Associated States Supreme Court Order.
It is a superior court of record for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and has unlimited jurisdiction in each member state.
These include six independent states – Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – and three UK overseas territories – Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, and Montserrat.
