Did you forget, Justice Minister?

THE EDITOR, Sir:

This is an open letter to Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck.

I HEARD you in the media saying words to the effect that steps will be taken so that judges who are required to retire at 70 may continue to act beyond that age.

I am sure you know, but do you forget when you were saying that the Constitution already provides for that to happen and was ventilated in the recent Court of Appeal Judgment, SCCA No. 39/2006 – Paul ChenYoung et al v. Eagle Merchant Bank Jamaica Limited et al?

Again, please give urgent serious consideration to repealing Section 33 of the Constabulary Force Act, which says:

“Every action to be brought against any constable for any act done by him in the execution of his office, shall be an action on the case as for a tort; and in the declaration it shall be expressly alleged that such act was done either maliciously or without reasonable or probable cause; and if at the trial of any such action the plaintiff shall fail to prove such allegation he shall be non-suited or a verdict shall be given for the defendant.” Factoring for example:

1. Relevant human right provisions in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms Constitutional Amendment Act, 2011.

2. Arrest, General Principles (Blackstone’s Criminal Practice 1999, 927).

In any case, why should, in this day and age, Section 33 be law, even flying in the face of equality before the law, providing defence which no other member of society can avail itself, even in the face of the equitable doctrine that equity is equality. OWEN S. CROSBIE Attorney/Barrister Mandeville, Manchester