COPY.
Enclosure 2.
23462
141
Ret
RE: 29 JUN 06
Minute by the Acting Colonial Secretary.
Your Excellency,
1.
The only reason known to me and hitherto
advanced for the appointment of a third Judge of the Supreme
Court is that the existing constitution of the Full Court, where-
-by the Chief Justice has a double vote, is unsatisfactory be-
-cause it throttles appeals from the Chief Justice unless the
parties are going on to the Privy Council in any event.
The only remedy which I can suggest for
this anomaly is that the Senior Magistrate, provided he has been
called to the Bar, should be added to the Supreme Court Bench as
an Appeal Judge.
I believe that the ouestion of increasing
the number of Judges except for the purpose stated above is quite
new. At least I had not heard of it before the present Chief
Justice mooted it.
2.
It is not correct to say, as the Chief
Justice does in paragraph 3 that the hands of the Puisne Judge
are quite full. That was not my experience and Mr. Justice Wise
is admittedly a quicker worker than i am.
3.
The way in which the Summary Jurisdiction
work of the Court is carried on is as follows:-
Every Friday morning the Puisne Judge sits
at 10 o'clock. All parties (and their Solicitors) who are
interested in the List of Actions attend.
Defended cases are allotted days for hear-
-ing during the ensuing week: undefended cases are usually dis-
-posed of on Friday morning. Summonses are taken on a Saturday
morning