President of the Mona Law Society Matthew Royal in his address to the Mona Law Institutes Unit Faculty of Law urged lawmakers to make what he described as the “obviously practical choice”.

“There is the idea of standing before a painting, when you stand too close to a painting your perspective view is skewed, if you stand too far you may not be able to appreciate enough of what the painting is showing you. I believe that the CCJ provides the perfect vantage point, it is sufficiently distant from the day-to-day realities of Jamaica that would appear in our current court of Appeal,” he said.

The aspiring lawyer encouraged legislators to choose the CCJ as he pointed out that the court provided better access to justice in the country.

“There are a whole barrel of issues that are not addressed to our highest court. There are a whole barrel of people who do not have the means of getting to this court. Our juris prudence in my perspective is underserved by not having our most eminent court being able to opine these issues,” he argued.

He said the court’s modern mechanism is advantageous to citizens and in keeping with the generation of lawyers being produced today.

“We have to consider the students that you are producing to become attorneys for some of us within 3/4/5 years. You are producing a generation of attorneys that are fully inclined with technology, isn’t it a wise choice to go towards a court that embraces this sort of system, that doesn’t stick to what was then relevant but might now be less relevant methods of communication,” he said.

“Having access to our justice system is more than just being able to walk into a room with ease. It is those features that may just seem peripheral or unimportant to others that are crucial,” he added.

In highlighting that the administration of justice in Jamaica currently is in a dilapidated state, the aspiring lawyer refuted the suggestion for the creation of a Jamaican final appellate court.

“I am not suggesting a pessimistic view. I do believe with the competence of every Jamaican…has within itself the competencies of resources to manage a justice system but as Delroy Chuck highlighted our departure from the Privy Council is imminent. So if our departure is as imminent as he has suggested and I do agree why not go to a system that is already developed, that has already been doing this work and that has shown its competence,” he argued.

He also encouraged legislators to end the lengthy, repetitive debate as to whether the country should install the CCJ as the final appellate court.

“I would hate that in three years’ time after attending what is now my second discussion in this faculty on the issue of CCJ to be invited to another. I am 21 now and I am sure 21 years ago some of these issues were being discussed and I would hate to leave this for my children to discuss too,” he said.