Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Arms as used by the Privy Council Office (United Kingdom)
51°30′01.3″N 0°07′41.3″W / 51.500361°N 0.128139°W / 51.500361; -0.128139
Established14 August 1833
Jurisdiction
List of countries
LocationMiddlesex Guildhall, City of Westminster, London, England
Coordinates51°30′01.3″N 0°07′41.3″W / 51.500361°N 0.128139°W / 51.500361; -0.128139
Authorized by
  • Judicial Committee Act 1833
  • Judicial Committee Act 1844
Websitejcpc.uk

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 August 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King-in-Council,[1] the Privy Council formerly acted as the court of last resort for the entire British Empire, other than for the United Kingdom itself.[2][3]

Formally a statutory committee of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, the Judicial Committee consists of senior judges who are Privy Councillors; they are predominantly justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and senior judges from the Commonwealth of Nations. Although it is often simply referred to as the "Privy Council", the Judicial Committee is only one constituent part of the Council. In Commonwealth realms, appeals are nominally made to "His Majesty in Council" (i.e. the British monarch as formally advised by his privy counsellors), who then refers the case to the Judicial Committee for "advice", while in republics in the Commonwealth of Nations retaining the JCPC as their final court of appeal, appeals are made directly to the Judicial Committee itself. The panel of judges (typically five in number) hearing a particular case is known as "the Board". The report of the Board is, by convention, always accepted by the King-in-Council as judgment.

Court 3 in Middlesex Guildhall, the normal location for Privy Council hearings.

History

The origins of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council can be traced back to the curia regis, or royal council. In theory, the King was the fount of justice, and petitions for redress of wrongs arising from his courts were addressed to him. That power was gradually taken over by Parliament (which evolved out of the curia regis) within England, but the King-in-Council (which also evolved out of the curia regis) retained jurisdiction to hear petitions from the King's non-English possessions, such as the Channel Islands and, later on, from England's colonies.[2]

The task of hearing appeals was given to a series of short-lived committees of the Privy Council. In 1679, appellate jurisdiction was given to the Board of Trade, before being transferred to a standing Appeals Committee of the Privy Council in 1696.[4] By the early nineteenth century, the growth of the British Empire, which had greatly expanded the appellate jurisdiction of the Privy Council (despite the loss of appeals from the American colonies), had put great strains on the existing arrangements.[4] In particular, the Appeals Committee had to hear cases arising from a variety of different legal systems in the colonies, such as Hindu law, with which its members were unfamiliar.[4] Another serious problem was that the Appeals Committee was technically a committee of the whole of the entire Privy Council, of which a minimum of three were required for a quorum.[4] Since many members of the Privy Council were not lawyers, all members of the Appeals Committee had equal votes, and there was no requirement that any of the Privy Counsellors actually hearing a particular appeal had to be a lawyer, it became possible for certain parties to appeal to secure desired judgments by persuading nonlawyer Privy Counsellors to attend the hearings on their appeals.[4] For these reasons, the Appeals Committee fell into disrepute among better-informed lawyers and judges in the colonies.[4]

In 1833, at the instigation of Lord Brougham, the Lord Chancellor, Parliament passed the Judicial Committee Act 1833. The Act established a statutory committee of the Privy Council, known as The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, to hear appeals to the King-in-Council. In addition to colonial appeals, later legislation gave the Judicial Committee appellate jurisdiction over a range of miscellaneous matters, such as patents, ecclesiastical matters, and prize suits.[2] At its height, the Judicial Committee was said to be the court of final appeal for over a quarter of the world.

In the twentieth century, the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council shrank considerably, as British dominions established their own courts of final appeal and as British colonies became independent, although many retained appeals to the Privy Council post-independence. Canada abolished Privy Council appeals in 1949, India and South Africa in 1950, and New Zealand in 2003. Currently, eleven Commonwealth countries outside of the United Kingdom retain Privy Council appeals, in addition to various British and New Zealand territories. The Judicial Committee also retains jurisdiction over a small number of domestic matters in the United Kingdom, reduced by the creation of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009.

Jurisdiction

Domestic jurisdiction

The United Kingdom does not have a single highest national court; the Judicial Committee is the highest court of appeal in some cases, while in most others the highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. (In Scotland the highest court in criminal cases is the High Court of Justiciary; the Supreme Court is the highest court in civil cases and matters arising from Scottish devolution, the latter previously having been dealt with by the Judicial Committee.)

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has jurisdiction in the following domestic matters:

Additionally, the government may (through the King) refer any issue to the committee for "consideration and report" under section 4 of the Judicial Committee Act 1833.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the court of final appeal for the Church of England. It hears appeals from the Arches Court of Canterbury and the Chancery Court of York, except on matters of doctrine, ritual or ceremony, which go to the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved. By the Church Discipline Act 1840 and the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 all archbishops and bishops of the Church of England became eligible to be members of the Judicial Committee.

Prior to the coming into force of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Privy Council was the court of last resort for devolution issues. On 1 October 2009 this jurisdiction was transferred to the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Authority of Privy Council decisions in domestic British courts

Judgments of the Judicial Committee are not generally binding on courts within the United Kingdom, having only persuasive authority, but are binding on all courts within any other Commonwealth country which still allows for appeals to the Judicial Committee. Where a binding precedent of the UK Supreme Court, or of the House of Lords, or of the Court of Appeal conflicts with that of a decision of the Judicial Committee on English law, English courts are required to follow the domestic decision over that of the Judicial Committee except when the Judicial Committee has in its decision expressly directed the domestic court to follow its new decision.[7] However, given the overlap between the membership of the Judicial Committee and of the Supreme Court, the decisions of the former are extremely persuasive and usually followed.[8]

Overseas jurisdiction

The Judicial Committee holds jurisdiction in appeals from the following 32 jurisdictions (including eleven independent nations):

Jurisdiction Type of jurisdiction Type of appeal
 Anguilla British Overseas Territory Appeal is to "His Majesty in Council"
 Bermuda
 British Virgin Islands
 Cayman Islands
 Falkland Islands
 Gibraltar
 Montserrat
 Saint Helena
 Ascension
 Tristan da Cunha
 Turks and Caicos
 Pitcairn Islands
 British Antarctic Territory
 British Indian Ocean Territory
 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
 Akrotiri and Dhekelia Sovereign Base Areas
 Isle of Man Crown Dependency
 Jersey
 Guernsey
 Alderney Parts of the Bailiwick of Guernsey
 Sark
 Antigua and Barbuda Commonwealth Realm
 The Bahamas
 Grenada
 Jamaica
 St. Kitts and Nevis
 St. Vincent and the Grenadines
 Tuvalu
 Cook Islands States in Association with a Commonwealth Realm (New Zealand)
 Niue
 Brunei Darussalam Independent Commonwealth monarchy Appeal is to the Sultan as head of state. (By agreement with the United Kingdom the Judicial Committee hears cases in which such an appeal has been made, and reports back to him.)[9]
 Mauritius Republic in the Commonwealth of Nations Appeal is directly made to the Judicial Committee.
 Trinidad and Tobago
 Kiribati Appeal is directly made to the Judicial Committee if the case involves constitutional rights.

Jurisdiction removed

Judicial appeal of final resort has been assumed by other bodies in some current and former Commonwealth countries:

CountryDateAbolishing statuteNew court of final appealNotes
 Irish Free State1933Constitution (Amendment No. 22) Act 1933Supreme CourtThe 1937 constitution renamed the state Ireland on 29 December 1937 and reconstituted the Supreme Court from 29 September 1961.[10] Ireland left the Commonwealth on 18 April 1949 when the Republic of Ireland was declared.
 Canada1949An Act to Amend the Supreme Court Act, S.C. 1949 (2nd sess.), c. 37, s. 3.Supreme CourtCriminal appeals ended in 1933.[11]
 India1949Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction Act, 1949Federal CourtReplaced by the Supreme Court on 28 January 1950.
 South Africa1950Privy Council Appeals Act, 1950Supreme Court Appellate DivisionReplaced by the Supreme Court of Appeal in 1997.
 Pakistan1950Privy Council (Abolition of Jurisdiction) Act, 1950Federal CourtReplaced by the Supreme Court under the 1956 Constitution.
 Ghana1960Constitution (Consequential Provisions) Act 1960Supreme Court
 Tanganyika1962Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1962East African Court of Appeal[12]
 Nigeria19631963 ConstitutionSupreme Court
 Kenya1964Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act, 1965[13]East African Court of Appeal
 Malawi1965Constitution of Malawi (Amendment) Act, 1965Supreme Court of Appeal of Malawi
 Uganda19661966 ConstitutionEast African Court of AppealCriminal and civil appeals ended in 1964.[14]
 Australia1968Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968[15]High CourtAbolished appeals of cases originating in federal and territory courts.
 Lesotho1970Court of Appeal and High Court Order 1970Court of Appeal of Lesotho[16][17]
 Sierra Leone19711971 Constitution[18]Supreme Court
 Ceylon1971Court of Appeal Act No. 44 of 1971[19]Court of Appeal
 Malta1972Constitution of Malta (Amendment) Act, 1972[20]Constitutional Court of Malta
 Guyana1973Constitution (Amendment) Act 1973[21]Court of Appeal of GuyanaCriminal and civil appeals ended in 1970.[22]
Since 2005 the Caribbean Court of Justice hears appeals from Guyana's Court of Appeal.
 Botswana1973Judicial Committee (Abolition of Appeals) Act 1973[23]Court of Appeal
 Malaysia1985Constitution (Amendment) Act 1983
Courts of Judicature (Amendment) Act 1984		Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court was called the Federal Court until the 1985 change and reverted to the old name in 1994.
 Australia – state courts
 1986Australia Act 1986High CourtAbolished appeals of cases originating in state courts.
 Fiji1987Fiji Judicature Decree 1987[24]Court of Appeal
 Singapore1994Judicial Committee (Repeal) Act 1994Court of Appeal
 The Gambia19981997 Constitution of the GambiaSupreme CourtA restructure of the Gambian judiciary by Yahya Jammeh, which made the Supreme Court of The Gambia the highest court instead of being below the Court of Appeal of the Gambia as was the case under the 1970 Constitution of the Gambia.
 New Zealand2004Supreme Court Act 2003Supreme Court
 Barbados2005Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2003Caribbean Court of Justice
 Belize2010Belize Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 2010
 Dominica2015Constitution of Dominica (Amendment) Act, 2014
 Saint Lucia2023Constitution of Saint Lucia (Amendment) Act, 2023[25]

The following countries or territories did not retain the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee at the time of independence or of the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom: Burma (1948), Israel (1948), Somaliland (1960), Cyprus (1960), Zanzibar (1963), Zambia (1964), Rhodesia (1965), South Yemen (1967), Swaziland (1968), Papua New Guinea (1975), Seychelles (1976), Solomon Islands (1978), Vanuatu (1980), Hong Kong (1997).

Composition

Members

The following are members of the Judicial Committee:

The bulk of the Committee's work is done by the Supreme Court Justices, who are paid to work full-time in both the Supreme Court and the Privy Council. Overseas judges may not sit when certain UK domestic matters are being heard, but will often sit when appeals from their own countries are being heard.

Registrars

Until 1904 the Registrar of the Admiralty court was also Registrar to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in ecclesiastical and maritime causes.[37]

Procedure

Most appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are formally appeals to "His Majesty in Council". Appeals from Brunei are formally to the Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan, while appeals from republics within the Commonwealth are directly to the Judicial Committee. Appeals are generally by leave of the local Court of Appeal, although the Judicial Committee retains discretionary power to grant leave to appeal as well.

After hearing an appeal, the panel of judges which heard the case (known as "the Board") issues its decision in writing. For appeals to His Majesty in Council, the Board submits its decision to the King as advice for his consideration. By convention, the advice is always accepted by the King and given effect via an Order in Council.

Historically, the Judicial Committee could only give a unanimous report, but since the Judicial Committee (Dissenting Opinions) Order 1966, dissenting opinions have been allowed.

The Judicial Committee is not bound by its own previous decisions, but may depart from them in exceptional circumstances if following its previous decisions would be unjust or contrary to public policy.[38]

Location

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is based in London. From its establishment to 2009, it mainly met in the Privy Council Chamber in Downing Street, although increase in the Judicial Committee's business in the twentieth century required it to sit simultaneously in several panels, which met elsewhere. The Chamber, designed by John Soane, was often criticised for its interior design, and was extensively remodelled in 1845 by Sir Charles Barry.[2] On 1 October 2009, the Judicial Committee moved to the former Middlesex Guildhall building, which had been refurbished in 2007 to provide a home for both the JCPC and the newly created Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. In this renovated building, Court 3 is used for Privy Council sittings.

In recent years, the Judicial Committee has occasionally sat outside of London. Between 2005 and 2010 it sat twice in Mauritius and three times in the Bahamas.

Decline in Commonwealth appeals

Initially, all Commonwealth realms and their territories maintained a right of appeal to the Privy Council. Many of those Commonwealth countries that became republics, or which had indigenous monarchies, preserved the Judicial Committee's jurisdiction by agreement with the United Kingdom. However, retention of a right of appeal to a court located overseas, made up mostly of British judges who may be out of tune with local values, has often come to be seen as incompatible with notions of an independent nation's sovereign status, and so a number of Commonwealth members have ended the right of appeal from their jurisdiction. The Balfour Declaration of 1926, while not considered to be lex scripta, severely limited the conditions under which the Judicial Committee might hear cases:[39]

From these discussions it was clear that it was no part of the policy of His Majesty's Government in Great Britain that questions affecting judicial appeals should be determined otherwise than in accordance with the wishes of the part of the Empire primarily affected ...

Australia

In 1901, the Constitution of Australia limited appeals from the new federal High Court of Australia to the Privy Council, by prohibiting appeals on constitutional matters unless leave is granted by the High Court on inter se questions. Appeals on non-constitutional matters were not prohibited, but the federal Parliament of Australia had the power to legislate to limit them. The right of appeal from federal courts (including territory supreme courts) was abolished through the Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968.[40][41] Appeals from state courts, a continuation of the right to appeal decisions of colonial courts before 1901, continued, until they were also abolished by the Australia Act 1986, which was enacted by both the UK and Australian parliaments, on the request of all the state governments. The Australian Constitution retains the provision allowing the High Court of Australia to permit appeals to the Privy Council on inter se questions. However, the High Court has stated that it will not give such permission, that the jurisdiction to do so "has long since been spent", and that it is obsolete.[42]

Canada

Canada created its own Supreme Court in 1875 and abolished appeals to the Privy Council in criminal cases in 1933.[43] Despite this, some decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada went on to appeal in the JCPC, including notably the Persons Case (Edwards v Canada (AG)), which affirmed that women had always been "qualified persons" under the British North America Act, 1867 (Canada's Constitution) eligible to sit in the Senate of Canada. In this case, it also used a metaphor in the obiter dicta, later reinterpreted and employed by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 1980s to establish what came to be known as the "living tree doctrine" in Canadian Constitutional law, which says that a constitution is organic and must be read in a broad and liberal manner so as to adapt it to changing times.

In 1949, all appeals to the Privy Council were abolished, but prior to this, there were several factors that served to limit the effectiveness of measures to reduce appeals:

Nadan, together with the King–Byng Affair, was a major irritant for Canada and provoked the discussion at the 1926 Imperial Conference which led to the Balfour Declaration, which declared the United Kingdom and the dominions to be

... autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

With that Declaration and its statutory confirmation in the Statute of Westminster 1931 (Imp, 22–23 Geo 5, c.4)[46] the impediment to abolishing appeals to the Privy Council, whether or not it had been legitimate, was comprehensively removed. Criminal appeals to the Privy Council were ended in 1933. Moves to extend the abolition to civil matters were shelved during the growing international crisis of the 1930s but re-tabled after the Second World War, and civil appeals ended in 1949, with an amendment of the Supreme Court Act.[47] Cases begun before 1949 were still allowed to appeal after 1949, and the final case to make it to the Council was not until 1959 with the case of Ponoka-Calmar Oils v Wakefield.[48]

The JCPC played a controversial role in the evolution of Canadian federalism in that, whereas some Fathers of Confederation in negotiating the union of the British North American colonies against the backdrop of the American Civil War wished to ensure a strong central government vis-à-vis relatively weak provinces, appeals to the JCPC in constitutional matters progressively shifted the balance in favour of the provinces.[49] While a few commentators have suggested that Canadian First Nations retain the right to appeal to the Privy Council because their treaties predate their relationship to Canada, the JCPC has not entertained any such appeal since 1867 and the dominant view is that no such appeal right exists.[50]

Caribbean Community

The nations of the Caribbean Community voted in 2001 to abolish the right of appeal to the Privy Council in favour of a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Some debate between member countries and also the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council[51][52] had repeatedly delayed the court's date of inauguration. As of 2005, Barbados replaced the process of appeals to Her Majesty in Council with the CCJ, which had then come into operation. The Co-operative Republic of Guyana also enacted local legislation allowing the CCJ to have jurisdiction over their sovereign final court of appeals system. Belize acceded to the Appellate Jurisdiction of the CCJ on 1 June 2010. As it stands, a few other CARICOM states appear to be ready for the abolition of appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the immediate future. The government of Jamaica in particular had come close and attempted to abolish appeals to the Judicial Committee without the support of the opposition in Parliament; however, it was ruled by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council that the procedure used in Jamaica to bypass the opposition was incorrect and unconstitutional.[53] Another attempt will also be forthcoming.[54]

Caribbean governments have been coming under increased pressure from their electorates[55] to devise ways to override previous rulings by the JCPC such as Pratt v A-G (Jamaica, 1993),[56] R v Hughes (Saint Lucia, 2002), Fox v R (Saint Kitts and Nevis, 2002), Reyes v R (2002, Belize), Boyce v R (Barbados, 2004), and Matthew v S (Trinidad and Tobago, 2004), all of which are Privy Council judgments concerning the death penalty in the Caribbean region.[57][58][59]

The then President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, has voiced displeasure with Caribbean and other Commonwealth countries continuing to rely on the British JCPC. During an interview Lord Phillips was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that "'in an ideal world' Commonwealth countries—including those in the Caribbean—would stop using the Privy Council and set up their own final courts of appeal instead".[60]

On 18 December 2006, the Judicial Committee made history when for the first time in more than 170 years it ventured outside London, holding a five-day sitting in the Bahamas. Lords Bingham, Brown, Carswell, and Scott, and Baroness Hale of Richmond, travelled to the Bahamas for the special sitting at the invitation of Dame Joan Sawyer, then the President of the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas;[61] the Committee returned to the Bahamas in December 2007 for a second sitting. On the latter occasion, Lords Hope, Rodger, Walker, and Mance, and Sir Christopher Rose, heard several cases. At the end of the sitting, Lord Hope indicated that there may be future sittings of the Committee in the Bahamas,[62] and the Committee has indeed sat in the Bahamas again, in 2009.[63]

The 2018 Antiguan constitutional referendum saw the proposal to replace the JCPC with the CCJ rejected by a 52.04% majority.

On 28 February 2023, the parliament of Saint Lucia approved the Constitution of St Lucia Amendment Bill 2023, which would replace the JCPC with the CCJ. [64]

An injunction against Saint Lucia's accession to the CCJ was filed on 3 March 2023 against the bill in Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the High Court of Justice of Saint Lucia, and is currently pending. [65]

Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, abolished appeals to the Privy Council under the Court of Appeal Act, 1971, which came into effect on 15 November 1971.[66] Previously, the Privy Council had ruled in Ibralebbe v The Queen that it remained the highest court of appeal in Ceylon notwithstanding the country's independence as a dominion in 1948.[67]

The Gambia

The Gambia retained the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council under the Gambia Independence Act 1964, even after The Gambia became a republic in the Commonwealth of Nations in April 1970 under Sir Dawda Jawara. Appeals were still taken to the JCPC from 1994 to 1998, when Yahya Jammeh, the then dictator and President of the Gambia decided to restructure the Gambian judiciary under the 1997 Constitution of the Gambia to replace the JCPC with the Supreme Court of the Gambia.

The last case from The Gambia to the JCPC was West Coast Air Limited v. Gambia Civil Aviation Authority and Others UKPC 39 (15 September 1998).[68]

Grenada

Grenadian appeals to the Privy Council were temporarily abolished from 1979 until 1991, as a result of the Grenadian Revolution, which brought Prime Minister Maurice Bishop to power. People's Law 84 was enacted to this effect. In 1985, Mitchell v DPP affirmed Grenada's right to unilaterally abolish appeals to the Privy Council. In 1991, Grenada restored the JCPC's jurisdiction.

In 2016, there was a proposal in the 2016 Grenadian constitutional referendum to terminate appeals from Grenada to the JCPC and to replace the JCPC with the Caribbean Court of Justice. This was rejected by a 56.73% majority, which means the JCPC remains Grenada's highest court.

Another referendum, the 2018 Grenadian constitutional referendum also rejected terminating appeals to the JCPC by a 55.2% majority.

Guyana

Guyana retained the right of appeal to the Privy Council until the government of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham passed the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (Termination of Appeals) Act 1970 and the Constitution (Amendment) Act 1973.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong's court system changed following the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China on 1 July 1997, with the Court of Final Appeal serving as the highest judicial authority of the Special Administrative Region (SAR), and (pursuant to Article 158 of the Basic Law, the constitutional instrument of the SAR) the power of final interpretation vested not in the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong but in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China.

Decisions of the Privy Council on Hong Kong appeals before 1 July 1997 remain binding on the courts of Hong Kong. This accords with the principle of continuity of the legal system enshrined in Article 8 of the Basic Law. Decisions of the Privy Council on non-Hong Kong appeals are of persuasive authority only. Such decisions were not binding on the courts in Hong Kong under the doctrine of precedent before 1 July 1997 and are not binding today. Decisions of the House of Lords before 1 July 1997 stand in a similar position. It is of the greatest importance that the courts of Hong Kong should derive assistance from overseas jurisprudence, particularly from the final appellate courts of other common law jurisdictions. This is recognised by Article 84 of the Basic Law.[69][70]

Pursuant to Article 158 of the Basic Law, the power of final interpretation of the Basic Law is vested not in the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong but in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, which, unlike the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, is a political body rather than an independent and impartial tribunal of last resort.

India

India retained the right of appeal from the Federal Court of India to the Privy Council after the establishment of the Dominion of India. Following the replacement of the Federal Court with the Supreme Court of India in January 1950, the Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction Act 1949 came into effect, ending the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Irish Free State

The right of appeal to the Privy Council was provided for in the Constitution of the Irish Free State until its abolition in 1933 by an Act of the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State, amending said constitution.[71]

In Moore v Attorney-General of the Irish Free State[72] the right of the Oireachtas to abolish appeals to the Privy Council was challenged as a violation of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty.[73] The then Attorney General for England and Wales (Sir Thomas Inskip) is reported to have warned the then Attorney-General of the Irish Free State (Conor Maguire) that the Irish Free State had no right to abolish appeals to the Privy Council.[73] The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council itself ruled that the Irish Free State Government had that right under the Statute of Westminster 1931 (Imp.).[73]

Jamaica

In May 2015, the Jamaican House of Representatives approved, with the necessary two-thirds majority, bills to end legal appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and make the Caribbean Court of Justice Jamaica's final court of appeal. The reform will be debated by the Jamaican Senate; however, the government needed the support of at least one opposition Senator for the measures to be approved by the required two-thirds majority.[74][75] The 2016 general election was called before the reforms could be brought to the Senate for a final vote. The Jamaican Labour Party, which opposed the changes, won the election and has promised to hold a referendum on the issue.[76]

Malaysia

Malaysia abolished appeals to the Privy Council in criminal and constitutional matters in 1978,[77] and in civil matters in 1984.[78]

New Zealand

New Zealand was the last of the original dominions to remove appeals to the Privy Council from its legal system. Proposals to abolish appeals to the Privy Council in New Zealand were first put forward in the early 1980s.[79]

The Privy Council's respect for local decisions was noted by Lord Brightman in 1985 in regard to the possible adoption of a New Zealand decision, in the case of Archer v. Cutler (1980), as a precedent, where he stated that:

If Archer v. Cutler is properly to be regarded as a decision based on considerations peculiar to New Zealand, it is highly improbable that their Lordships would think it right to impose their own interpretation of the law, thereby contradicting the unanimous conclusions of the High Court and the Court of Appeal of New Zealand on a matter of local significance. If, however, the principle of Archer v. Cutler, if it be correct, must be regarded as having general application throughout all jurisdictions based on the common law, because it does not depend on local considerations, their Lordships could not properly treat the unanimous view of the courts of New Zealand as being necessarily decisive.[80]

In October 2003, with respect to all cases heard by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, New Zealand law was changed to abolish appeals to the Privy Council, after the end of 2003. The old system was replaced by the Supreme Court of New Zealand. In 2008, Prime Minister John Key ruled out any abolition of the Supreme Court and return to the Privy Council.[81]

However, judgment on the last appeal from New Zealand to be heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was not delivered until 3 March 2015.[82][83][84]

Pakistan

The Dominion of Pakistan retained the right of appeal to the Privy Council from the Federal Court of Pakistan until the Privy Council (Abolition of Jurisdiction) Act, 1950 was passed. The Federal Court of Pakistan remained the highest court until 1956, when the Supreme Court of Pakistan was established.

Rhodesia

Despite the Rhodesian Constitution of 1965 coming into effect as a result of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, appeals continued to be accepted by the Privy Council as late as 1969 due to the fact that under international law, Rhodesia remained a British colony until gaining its independence as Zimbabwe in April 1980.

Singapore

Singapore abolished Privy Council appeals in all cases save those involving the death penalty, or in civil cases where the parties had agreed to such a right of appeal, in 1989. The remaining rights of appeal were abolished in April 1994.

One notable case in Singapore where an appeal against the death sentence was allowed by the Privy Council was a murder case that occurred in Pulau Ubin between 22 and 23 April 1972. In this case, Mohamed Yasin bin Hussein, who was 19 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to death by the High Court for murdering and raping a 58-year-old elderly woman named Poon Sai Imm, while his 25-year-old accomplice Harun bin Ripin went to ransack the elderly woman's house for items to rob (Harun, who also stood trial for murder together with Yasin, was instead sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment and received 12 strokes of the cane for a lesser charge of robbery at night). The Privy Council found that there was no evidence to show that Yasin had intended to cause death or any fatal bodily injury when he caused the fatal rib fractures on Poon while forcibly performing sexual intercourse with the struggling victim. As such, they found him guilty of committing a rash/negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide and sentenced him to 2 years' imprisonment. As an aftermath of this appeal, Yasin was brought back to court to be charged with rape, and he was eventually jailed for another 8 years for attempted rape of the elderly victim.[85]

Another notable case heard by the Privy Council was the case of Haw Tua Tau, a hawker who was sentenced to death in 1978 for the double murder of two hawkers Phoon Ah Leong and his mother Hu Yuen Keng.[86] After his appeal was dismissed,[87] Haw was granted special leave to appeal to the Privy Council against his sentence and conviction, but his appeal was dismissed by the Privy Council, which issued a landmark ruling that decreed the prosecution shall be allowed to present its case against an accused in court, as long as there is sufficient evidence to back a charge against the accused and hence present a case for the accused to answer.[88] After losing his final appeal, Haw was eventually hanged in 1982 for the hawker killings.[89]

South Africa

South Africa abolished the right of appeal to the Privy Council from the Appellate Division of the then Supreme Court of South Africa in 1950 under the terms of the Privy Council Appeals Act, 1950.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Judicial Committee Act 1833".
  2. 1 2 3 4 P. A. Howell, The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, 1833–1876: Its Origins, Structure, and Development, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979
  3. ↑ "Practice direction 1". The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Howell, P.A. (2009). The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council: 1833-1876 Its Origins, Structure and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 7–13. ISBN 9780521085595. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  5. ↑ Privy Council Appeals Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 92)
  6. ↑ "Role of the JCPC". Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  7. ↑ "Willers v Joyce & Anor. [2016] UKSC 44" (PDF). The Supreme Court. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  8. ↑ As in Bisset v Wilkinson 1927
  9. ↑ "The Brunei (Appeals) Order 1989". Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  10. ↑ "Courts (Establishment and Constitution) Act 1961, s.1". electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB). 16 August 1961.; "S.I. No. 217/1961 — Courts (Establishment and Constitution) Act, 1961 (Commencement) Order, 1961". electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB). 29 September 1961.
  11. ↑ An Act to amend the Criminal Code, S.C. 1932–33, c. 53, s. 17.
  12. ↑ Feingold, Ellen R. (20 February 2018). Colonial Justice and Decolonization in the High Court of Tanzania, 1920-1971. Palgrave MacMillan. pp. 146, 161. ISBN 978-3-319-69690-4.
  13. ↑ "Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act, 1965" (PDF). kenyalaw.org. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  14. ↑ Uganda (1964). "Appellate Jurisdiction (Amendment) Act, 1964". 1964 Statutes and Subsidiary Legislation.
  15. ↑ "Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968". Federal Register of Legislation.
  16. ↑ Poulter, Sebastian (November 1977). "No.8: Dual Marriages in Lesotho" (PDF). National University Of Lesotho, Faculty Of Social Sciences, Staff Seminar Papers. p. 3. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
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  25. ↑ "In Saint Lucia, parliament passes constitutional amendment to replace Privy Council with Caribbean Court of Justice as final court of appeal". ConstitutionNet. 2 March 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
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  31. ↑ Portrait by John Mansfield Crealock at Sir Charles Henry Lawrence Neish (1857–1934). Government Art Collection. Retrieved
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  33. ↑ Waters's brother, Major Philip Duncan Joseph Waters, was the commander of the firing squad that executed Josef Jakobs, the last person executed in the Tower of London. Major P.D.J. Waters – Commander of the Firing Squad that Executed Josef Jakobs. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  34. ↑ Swinfen, David B. Imperial Appeal: The Debate on the Appeal to the Privy Council, 1833–1986, p. vii.
  35. ↑ "Executive Team". Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  36. ↑ "Executive Team". Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  37. ↑ "Records of the High Court of Admiralty and colonial Vice-Admiralty courts". National Archives. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  38. ↑ "Gibson v. United States of America (The Bahamas) [2007] UKPC 52 (23 July 2007)".
  39. ↑ "Imperial conference 1926: Inter-Imperial Relations Committee Report, Proceedings and Memoranda, E (I.R./26) Series" (PDF).
  40. ↑ Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968 (Cth).
  41. ↑ Privy Council (Appeals from the High Court) Act 1975 (Cth).
  42. ↑ Kirmani v Captain Cook Cruises Pty Ltd (No 2) (1985) 159 CLR 461, 465.
  43. ↑ Criminal Procedure Amendment Act, S.C. 1888, c. 43, s. 1
  44. ↑ Charles Cushing v Louis Dupuy [1880] UKPC 22, (1880) 5 AC 409 (15 April 1880), P.C. (on appeal from Quebec)
  45. ↑ Frank Nadan v The King [1926] UKPC 13, [1926] AC 482 (25 February 1926), P.C. (on appeal from Alberta)
  46. ↑ "Statute of Westminster 1931".
  47. ↑ "Glossary entry: "Judicial Committee of the Privy Council" at canadiana.ca".
  48. ↑ Ponoka-Calmar Oils Ltd. and another v Earl F. Wakefield Co. And others [1959] UKPC 20, [1960] AC 18 (7 October 1959), P.C. (on appeal from Canada)
  49. ↑ Hogg, Peter W. Constitutional Law of Canada, 4th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2003, ss. 5.3(a)-(c); 2004 Student Edition Abridgment, ss. 5.3(a)-(c), pp. 117–120
  50. ↑ Bruce Clark (1990). Native Liberty, Crown Sovereignty. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 9780773507678.
  51. ↑ "Bombshell ruling – Privy Council says passage of CCJ unconstitutional". Jamaica Gleaner. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2007.
  52. ↑ "Privy Council Decision should not halt Caribbean Court". Caribbean Net News. Archived from the original on 25 February 2006. Retrieved 16 June 2007.
  53. ↑ "CCJ blow". Jamaica Observer Newspaper. Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2007.
  54. ↑ "Jamaica's London appeal court dilemma". 1 July 2012 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  55. ↑ Rohter, Larry (7 July 1997). "Death-Row Rule Sours Caribbean on Britain". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 June 2009.
  56. ↑ "UK Government Web Archive: JCPC Judgment: Earl Pratt and Ivan Morgan v. The Attorney General for Jamaica, Appeal No. 10 of 1993". webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
  57. ↑ Spurning Europe, Caribbean pushes death penalty By MIKE MELIA (Associated Press) – 11 November 2008
  58. ↑ Letter: Colonial power over death penalty By THERESE MILLS (BBC) – Wednesday, 19 January 2005, 19:15 GMT
  59. ↑ T & T pushing death penalty Archived 13 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine Nation Newspaper – 17 January 2008
  60. ↑ Privy Council's Caribbean complaint By Staff Writer, (BBCCaribbean.com) Tuesday, 22 September 2009 – Published 18:08 GMT
  61. ↑ Never before in the history of England By Clifford Bishop, (The Bahamas Investor Magazine), 27 June 2007
  62. ↑ Privy Council Sitting In Bahamas For Second Time Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine By Tosheena Robinson-Blair, (The Bahama Journal), 18 December 2007
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  64. ↑ "Parliament approves move to make CCJ St Lucia's final court". jamaica-gleaner.com. 1 March 2023.
  65. ↑ "Injunction Filed In Matter Of 'St Lucia's Accession To CCJ'". menafn.com.
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  67. ↑ Ibralebbe v The Queen [1964] AC 900
  68. ↑ West Coast Air Limited v. Gambia Civil Aviation Authority and Others [1998] UKPC 39 (15 September 1998), Privy Council (on appeal from The Gambia)
  69. ↑ CACV375/1999 Thapa Indra Bahadur v The Secretary for Security (18 April 2000) at para 14.
  70. ↑ FACV2/2009 (30 October 2009) at para 79.
  71. ↑ Constitution (Amendment No. 22) Act, 1933 Irish Statute Book
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