PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Chief Justice Ivor Archie, Tuesday, introduced his early retirement, days after renewed calls had been revealed within the media calling for him to demit workplace.
“I’ve determined to retire. I’m a single baton in a endless relay,” Justice Archie advised the ceremonial opening of the 2025/2026 regulation time period on the Corridor of Justice.
His early retirement brings an finish to one of many longest tenures of a chief justice, with Justice Archie serving for the previous 17 years, following his appointment in 2008. He was previously Solicitor Basic of the Cayman Islands from 1995 till his return to Trinidad in 1998.
“After I grew to become Chief Justice in 2008, the obligatory retirement age was 65. That’s what I envisaged and that’s what I ready for,” he stated, including that prime public workplace requires sacrifice of household and the liberty to pursue different avenues of curiosity.
“Whereas it’s a privilege to serve, every of us should determine what we would like for ourselves at any given stage in life. Chief Justice is what I do, it isn’t who I’m,” he advised the ceremony, including that over the previous few years, as he approached the age of 65, “I’ve seen my life journey with larger readability and perspective”.
He stated from a company governance standpoint, irrespective of how revolutionary a pacesetter could also be, “ an infusion of recent concepts from a brand new chief with totally different strengths and weaknesses is fascinating every so often/
“It’s also necessary for me to search out new challenges and alternatives as I proceed to develop,” Justice Archie stated, including that the “Workplace of Chief Justice is non-public property or one thing you personal.”
He stated it’s held in belief for one successor and the nation.
I’m however a single runner in a endless relay, and the baton have to be handed at a while. As any runner will inform you, the race is compromised in case you don’t go within the zone, and I’m in my zone.
“I’ve determined to retire, not resign, at a time of my very own selecting and to not wait till I attain the age of 70. There’ll at all times be unfinished enterprise, irrespective of once I go away. Nonetheless, I’ve determined to retire throughout this time period (and) this can be my final speech,” stated Justice Archie, noting that he had determined to make the announcement now he needed to be accountable in managing transition,” particularly after an extended interval in workplace the place the one chief most individuals within the judiciary know is me”.
“Transparency and seamless succession are an necessary a part of good company governance. It requires cautious planning and preparation and an inexpensive go away,” he stated.
Earlier this week, the top of the Legal Bar Affiliation, Israel Khan, SC, reacting to experiences that Chief Justice Ivor Archie was contemplating stepping down, advised reporters, “Good riddance.”
Khan, who has lengthy been considered one of Archie’s most vocal critics, welcomed the potential of his departure, saying, “If he’s retired, my remark can be good riddance; it’s time he leaves the judiciary as a result of the judiciary is in a complete mess.”
Khan advised the Trinidad Guardian newspaper that Justice Archie might be trying to pre-empt hypothesis that the Authorities is weighing whether or not to invoke Part 137 of the Structure, which permits for the elimination of judges on grounds of misbehaviour or incapacity, over his function within the Marcia Ayers-Caesar controversy.
In March this yr, the London-based Privy Council, the nation’s highest court docket, dominated in favour of the previous Excessive Courtroom decide, dismissing an attraction introduced by Trinidad and Tobago’s Judicial and Authorized Service Fee (JLSC) and upholding findings that her elimination from workplace in April 2017 was illegal.
In a unanimous resolution delivered on March 24, 2025, the Board discovered that Ayers-Caesar’s resignation from the Excessive Courtroom was the results of coercion and that the JLSC’s actions violated her constitutional rights.
“The Fee introduced in regards to the claimant’s resignation,” the judgment acknowledged, noting that the JLSC had successfully pressured her to step down underneath risk of disciplinary proceedings.
“Pressurising a decide to resign by holding out the specter of disciplinary proceedings, because the Fee did within the current case, circumvents the constitutional safeguards laid down in part 137 and undermines their goal.”
