During the session of the Anguilla House of Assembly on Tuesday, January 21 – dealing with Government Business – two pieces of draft legislation were postponed until a later date; and a third Bill was withdrawn.
Before the House were: a Bill for a Jury (Amendment) Act, 2019, a Bill for the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Anguilla) (Amendment) Act, 2019 – both for the second and third readings – and a Bill for the Anguilla Status Act, 2020 – a new version of the 2019 draft.
On the proposed Jury Bill, Attorney General, Mr. Dwight Horsford, told the Speaker, Mr. Terry Harrigan:
“Regarding this very important Bill, I had occasion earlier to ask the Hon. Premier – and I also had the opportunity to speak with the Hon. Leader of the Opposition – regarding this Bill. It is my desire, and my request, to defer this Bill to another sitting of the Honourable House.”
When the Supreme Court Bill was called by the Clerk of the House, Mr. Proctor, the Attorney General stated:
“I rise again, Mr. Speaker, and I wish to advance the same request and will briefly enlarge upon. As was the case with the one just before, I would like to take the opportunity to have further consultations with the Law Society Bar Council. [It] is not that this initiative is controversial – and indeed it is not because it is an initiative that exists and has found its way in other Eastern Caribbean Territories and States.
“The objective is really to make sure that, in the administration of justice, all parties, the State, as well as members of the public, the litigants, are on an equal playing field – as we say in the legal community, there is ‘equality of arts’. This new initiative allows prosecution authorities the right of appeal in certain limited circumstances. Be that as it may, Mr. Speaker, I wish to again request that on this measure the second and third readings be deferred to the next sitting.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, withdrew the previous Bill for the Anguilla Status Act that was laid before the House late last year. She moved that that Bill should be removed and replaced by the current one. The Bill, which will be returned to the House later, is to “provide for Anguillian Status as established by the Anguilla Constitution (Amendment) Order 2019 and to provide for other related matters.”
