Dear Editor,
Much has been said and written against the dismissal of Kern Spencer et al without expressed reason by the judge. It is my respectful submission that any judgement issued without reason is prima facie arbitrary; and while the judgement may be sound, it may not be.
Fair, open trial underpins judicial hearing, and even where hearings are permitted to be in private, decisions are invariably to be made public, because the public is not only presumed to have an interest, but absolutely entitled to hear the result with reason(s) of such proceedings at the time of delivery of judgement; as justice must not only be done but manifestly seen to be done.
Judges too often deliver verdicts and their reasons on an indefinite date. That must be discontinued. The judgement should, as far as practicable, be delivered with the reason at the same time to avoid, for example, delays in appeals and the generation of interlocutory proceedings.
In Kern et al's case, since Her Honour R M Pusey did not take the time out of her plate overflowing with work, I am calling on the powers that be to give her time to produce a written reason for her judgement in this most important case of general public interest and in the face of continued widespread criticism.
It can never be late to do what is right as there should be no time to do what is wrong.
Owen S Crosbie
Mandeville, Manchester
oss@cwjamaica.com
Give RM Pusey time off to write reason for Kern judgement
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Much has been said and written against the dismissal of Kern Spencer et al without expressed reason by the judge. It is my respectful submission that any judgement issued without reason is prima facie arbitrary; and while the judgement may be sound, it may not be.
Fair, open trial underpins judicial hearing, and even where hearings are permitted to be in private, decisions are invariably to be made public, because the public is not only presumed to have an interest, but absolutely entitled to hear the result with reason(s) of such proceedings at the time of delivery of judgement; as justice must not only be done but manifestly seen to be done.
Judges too often deliver verdicts and their reasons on an indefinite date. That must be discontinued. The judgement should, as far as practicable, be delivered with the reason at the same time to avoid, for example, delays in appeals and the generation of interlocutory proceedings.
In Kern et al's case, since Her Honour R M Pusey did not take the time out of her plate overflowing with work, I am calling on the powers that be to give her time to produce a written reason for her judgement in this most important case of general public interest and in the face of continued widespread criticism.
It can never be late to do what is right as there should be no time to do what is wrong.
Owen S Crosbie
Mandeville, Manchester
oss@cwjamaica.com
Give RM Pusey time off to write reason for Kern judgement
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