XN000022-1995-04-03 — Page 2

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AG stresses importance of early CFA

The establishment of the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) by July 1996 at the latest would enable the court to gain acceptance and to build up a track record of jurisprudence, the Attorney General, Mr Jeremy Mathews, said today (Monday).

Speaking at the opening of a meeting of the American Bar Association's International Labour Committee, Mr Mathews said the early setting up of the CFA would eliminate any uncertainty about what sort of a court would be set up after 1997.

"If the court is not established before 1997, there would be complete uncertainty as to what form the legislation would take, whether it would be based upon existing and familiar principles or not, and as to who the judges of the court would be," Mr Mathews said.

"Moreover, there would be a very damaging judicial vacuum, of at least a year, during which there would be no avenue of appeal from the Court of Appeal," he added.

Mr Mathews said there were also other reasons for the establishment of the CFA by July next year, one of which was the appointment of permanent judges and recruitment of support staff for the Court.

"There is also a need to form panels of non-permanent local and overseas judges. Although the Chief Justice has made initial contacts with various common law jurisdictions, any follow-up action prior to the enactment of the CFA Bill is likely to be futile," he said.

Mr Mathews said the other tasks to be performed before the court could begin operations included making the premises ready; amendments to the organisation and nomenclature of our court system; the preparation of rules of procedure for inclusion into subsidiary legislation; and drawing up practice directions relating to the CFA.

Many of these tasks would only be meaningful if the Government was sure that The the Bill to provide for the establishment of the CFA would be enacted. Government also needed to consult the legal profession on some of these tasks, he said.

The legislation therefore needed to be in place by July of this year, Mr Mathews stressed.