Port of Spain, Trinidad. On Friday, 17 May 2019 at 10 am AST, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will host a Ceremonial Sitting at its headquarters in Port of Spain to commemorate the Honourable Mr. Justice David Hayton’s retirement from office Mr. Justice Hayton, having joined the Court at its inception in 2005, is one of the Court’s longest-serving judges. CCJ President, the Honourable Mr Justice Adrian Saunders noted that “his legal acumen, scholarship and diligence have had a tremendous impact on the Court. As Chairman of the Caribbean Court of Justice Annual International Law Moot Committee, he has led the organisation of the competition, which has grown from strength to strength, over its eleven years. Having worked with Justice Hayton since the early days of the Court, I can say without any hesitation that his shoes will be difficult to fill, but we are pleased to be welcoming Justice Peter Jamadar to the CCJ in July when Justice Hayton leaves us”.
The Ceremonial Sitting, like all CCJ hearings and judgement deliveries, will be livestreamed. Information about this event can be found on the Court’s website www.ccj.org. The event will be chaired by the CCJ President and will include remarks by Lady Mary Arden of Heswall, DBE Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom; the Hon. Mr. Justice Paul Matthews, King’s College London & Co-editor of Underhill & Hayton: Law of Trusts and Trustees; the Rt. Hon. Sir Dennis Byron, former CCJ President; Dr. David Berry Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus; Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine Dean of Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, and Dr Peter Maynard, Commissioner of the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission.
Mr. Justice Hayton is the only Judge of the Court from the United Kingdom. Prior to coming to the CCJ he served as a Law Lecturer at Sheffield University from 1966-1969 and was called to the Bar in 1968 after which, he practised as a Chancery barrister, ultimately specialising in domestic and international trusts and succession. He also served as a Professor of Law at King’s College, Cambridge University from 1987-2005. He was arguably the leading authority in the U.K. and Europe on the law of trusts, having written or edited fifteen books in the areas of trusts, property, succession and tax.
He sat as a Recorder, which is a part-time judge, in the UK from 1984 – 2000 and as an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas in 2000 and 2001. He was made a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn in 2004. After being sworn-in as Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Mr. Justice Hayton then became Emeritus Professor of Property Law, King’s College, London.