Saint Lucia has recorded a 600 per cent increase in judgments from its final court of appeal since switching from the London-based Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), according to CCJ President, the Honourable Mr Justice Winston Anderson.
Speaking at the opening of the Court’s 2026/2027 judicial year in Saint Lucia, Anderson said the comparison measured CCJ judgments since the island’s accession in July 2023 against Privy Council judgments over a corresponding period. “I want to add that since Saint Lucia acceded to the CCJ in 2023, there has been a 600% increase in judgments issued by the CCJ for Saint Lucia, when compared with a corresponding period at the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,” he said.
The disclosure comes as the CCJ holds its first sitting in Saint Lucia, three years after becoming the country’s highest appellate court.
Anderson said the Court has heard and delivered judgments in nine matters originating from Saint Lucia since the transition, addressing disputes that touch on property, taxation, seized funds, customs decisions and contracts.
The cases include property ownership through prescription, withholding tax under the Income Tax Act, and the seizure and detention of funds under proceeds of crime legislation.
For the CCJ President, those matters show how Saint Lucian cases are helping shape the region’s legal development. “Each of these matters enriches the developing jurisprudence, which the court has worked assiduously to foster over the past two decades,” he said.
Anderson also highlighted steps intended to make the Court more accessible to Saint Lucian litigants, including amendments to procedural rules allowing fees and security for costs to be waived.
Integrating Saint Lucia into the Court’s electronic filing and case management systems, he said, required collaboration among the CCJ, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, the Saint Lucia Bar Association, attorneys and court officials.
He described the country’s decision to join the Court’s appellate jurisdiction as a defining expression of confidence in Caribbean justice. “By taking that defining step in July 2023, Saint Lucia affirmed its trust and confidence in the Caribbean’s apex court,” Anderson said.
He maintained that the CCJ remains committed to delivering accessible, efficient and substantive justice to Saint Lucians.
Saint Lucia became the fifth CARICOM member state to adopt the CCJ as its final court of appeal, joining Barbados, Guyana, Belize and Dominica.
