Barbados CJ to issue practice direction on case backlog

(Barbados Nation) Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson is ready to lay down the law on court practice as he seeks to halt a spiralling backlog of cases.

He plans to issue a practice direction early in the new year telling attorneys what it is expected of them in respect of the practice and procedure of the courts.

Sir Marston told the SUNDAY SUN that he hoped this would speed up the process of a final determination of old cases, some of which have been around for more than two decades, and those to be dismissed.

The Chief Justice said he intended using a three-pronged approach to the bothersome issue which he claimed had also posed a problem for his predecessor Sir David Simmonds, who Sir Marston acknowledged had “fought valiantly” but was restrained by the 1982 rules of the Surpreme Court.