On The Benches of The Eastern Caribbean is a semi-autibiographical account of the work of a legal Luminary who has profondly influenced the Jurisprudence of the Eastern Caribbean.
Justice Albert N. J Matthew, having worked in every area of the law - as a Prosecutor, a Legal Draftsman, a Consultant, a Magistrate, a Judge of the High Court and finally as a Justice of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, describes how as a young man he stumbled upon the practice of law while serving as a juror. He explains how he later journeyed to the law and found in its grasp his life's work of molding the Jurisprudence of our region and our time.
In his seventeen years of service on the Higher Judiciary, first as a Judge of the High Court and later as a Justice of Appeal, Justice Matthew has delivered over 650 Judgments some of them landmark decisions that will forever change the landscape of our Jurisprudence. He has touched on every area of the law.
Whether it was the law of hire purchase or the sale of goods, or of family dispute, breach of contract or a dispute between the directors and shareholders of a company, the book shows clearly how the life and issues of the regular man becomes the birthplace of the law.
Not only does this book provide quidance on the practice of law for the younger practitioners; it also contains a compass for those aspiring to become Judges and Magistrates on the function of an adjudicator and the manner of construction of the written judgment.
This book will be useful not only to those trained and practiced in the law, but
also to the lay person who is seeking an understanding of some of the issues that affect their everyday life, for example, persons in landlord and tenant relationship or issues relating to the maintenance and custody of children.
The book gives a riveting account of the author's boyhood as a good student and an avid sportsman. It also opens the mind to the wonder of a life, well-rounded and well lived. Put simply, this is a book that anyone seeking knowledge will enjoy.