More cases heard than were filed in the ECSC

Acting Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC), Mario Michel, has said that more cases are heard than filed in the court.

The ECSC marked the commencement of the new law year under the theme “Accessibility and Awareness -The ECSC Bridging the Gap Through Community engagement” last Friday, January 10, 2025, with its traditional ceremonial proceedings, hosted virtually this year by Saint Lucia.

The ceremonial opening commenced with a church service in most Member States and Territories, followed by the procession to the various courts, where the formal Special Sitting of the Court was held.

In St Vincent and the Grenadines, the church service was held at the Kingstown Methodist Church, and was followed by the procession to the court house building, accompanied by the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force band where there was an inspection of the Guard.

Acting Chief Justice Michel, delivering the feature address live from Saint Lucia via zoom, shed light on the major undertakings, and the volume of judicial work of the court during the course of 2023, as statistics for 2024 were not yet available.

“In 2023, a total of 7,742 cases were filed in the High Court in the nine member states and territories in the ECSC, whilst 8083 cases were disposed of.”

He noted that this is a clearance rate of over 100 per cent, meaning that the High Courts are hearing more cases than are being filed, causing a dent to be made in the backlog of cases in the system.

“This is a promising indication that we have begun to reduce the cases backlog. Indeed, this is the third consecutive year of an over 100 per cent clearance rate with an upward movement of 68.13 per cent in 2021 to 104. 4 per cent in 2023.”

Michel also highlighted the introduction of artificial intelligence into courtrooms in 2024. He said the use of AI and public education programmes, which were also introduced into the Judicial System, will continue into 2025 and beyond.

The Acting Chief Justice said though, that there are still delays in the delivery of judgments, and sometimes a lack of expedition by some judges in the conduct of proceedings.

However, Michel noted that this matter is still a work in progress, and progress is being made across the ECSC. He also reported that all phases of the e-litigation portal have been completed throughout all the courts.

“In the six years since it was first introduced [into the ECSC], the e-litigation portal has successfully transformed what was a time consuming and resource intensive process of filing and serving court documents into one that is efficient, cost effective, transparent and reliable.”

Present at the sitting were members of the SVG Bar, the Director of Public Prosecutions, as well as Justice Rickie Burnett, Magistrates, and Senior Magistrates across St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Attorney General of Saint Lucia, and other speakers from various Member States and Territories of the ECSC also appeared and spoke via the Zoom platform.