For only the second time in the history of The Bahamas' judiciary, the Bahamas Court of Appeal yesterday held a sitting in Grand Bahama at the Garnet Levarity Justice Centre.

The five Justices ? Dame Joan Sawyer, Christopher Blackman, Maurice Ganpat-singh, Emmanuel Osadebay and Hartman Longley ? will be on-island until Friday and are scheduled to hear four appeal matters.

A large number of attorneys from Grand Bahama and New Providence were present for the opening ceremony, during which President of the Court Justice Sawyer gave brief opening remarks.

Sawyer noted that the composition of the court has changed drastically since the last visit, when she sat as the Chief Justice.

Pointing out that the purpose of the Court's visit was to assure the residents of Grand Bahama that "justice is still accessible" to them, Sawyer said since the island does have the facilities to enable the Justices to sit here, it was only fitting that that process take place.

"Grand Bahama hasn't ceased to be part of The Bahamas... Sometimes I think people lose hope when they think that they cannot get to the courts," she said.

That is why such a visit is especially important, she said.

Sawyer spoke to the fact that it is often prohibitive, in terms of cost, for residents to hire lawyers to take their cases to the Appeal Court in New Providence, or to do so themselves.

"We're not just here for lawyers, we're actually not here for lawyers at all, we're here for litigants, people who have real problems and who, for some reason or the other, cannot resolve those problems and so they bring them to the Court," she said.

"They are not satisfied with what the Supreme Court has done, or in some cases the Magisterial Court, or the Industrial Tribunal, and then they come to us... And if we don't satisfy them in most cases they can take it higher."

Sawyer told those gathered that, after all is said and done, the justice system must be viewed by the public as one that works.

"The point is that the system must work and must be seen to work, and the public needs to know this because it is they that we serve," she said.

Sawyer noted that the pro-cess of moving the Court of Appeals to Grand Bahama was a very expensive one, and can only be justified if there are a minimum of three matters to be heard.

Noting that she was made aware that one or two of the cases scheduled to be heard may possibly be withdrawn, Sawyer said it is the duty of the court to disclose to the public why a matter that has been scheduled will not be heard.

Transparency and accountability, she added, must be the hallmarks of the justice system.

"It is the public who pays the salaries and the light bills and so on that runs the court and they should know how their money is being spent. We have to do our best to ensure that things are always seen to be above board," she said.

"It has nothing to do with lawyers, or animosity towards lawyers, or goodwill towards lawyers, it has to do with justice, which is greater and more important than any one individual. And yet, it must be done at the individual level, otherwise it will not suffice. That's how important it is."

The historic first sitting of the Appeals Court outside of New Providence happened in July 2001, after the then Court President, Justice Zacca signed into law a change in the Court of Appeal Rules, allowing the Court to sit not only in the city of Nassau, but also in such other places as the President may direct.

During that first sitting, the then Attorney-General Carl Bethel expressed hope that the exercise, whereby the Court of Appeals be moved to hear matters in Grand Bahama, becomes a regular feature of the annual legal calendar.

Citing the cost factor as a major advantage of bringing the Court of Appeals to Grand Bahama, Bethel said the regular sitting of the Court here should reduce legal costs and should also have the effect of reducing the number of delays in appeal cases, if only because the number of excuses for delays will be reduced.

Bethel said the expansion in business on Grand Bahama and the economic growth that could prove to be exponential in nature, means that legal disputes will inevitably arise.

To this end, Bethel said it was not inconceivable that in the not too distant future, serious consideration might have to be given to the establishment of a fully resident division of the appeal's Court in Grand Bahama.

By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL

Freeport News Reporter