CARIBBEAN | CCJ Judge authors book on “The Law of the Sea in the Caribbean”

PLANTATION, Florida, August 10, 2022 - The Caribbean sea represents the lifeblood of the economies of the Caribbean. Countries that for centuries have been washed by its waters which has provided sustenance for its inhabitants. This includes food from fisheries as well as other economic activities through the transportation of goods and people by way of ships and boats.

The Caribbean Sea also underpins the region’s tourism industry which has become a primary economic activity within the region.

The Honourable Justice Mr Winston Anderson, a Judge on the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the apex Court in the Caribbean, has authored The Law of the Sea in the Caribbean, the latest scholarly contribution to an important field of International Law in the Caribbean.

Using the lens of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted in Kingston, Jamaica, on 10 December 1982, the book examines the possibilities for contribution by the Law of the Sea to economic and social development in the Region. 

The topics traversed include maritime jurisdiction, fisheries, offshore oil and gas, marine scientific research, peace and security, navigation, pollution, the deep seabed, maritime boundary delimitation, and dispute settlement.

The book is premised on the fact that a generation of legal pioneers imagined a decisive role for the Law of the Sea in the advancement of developing states, and it attempts to give an account, in the fortieth year of the adoption of the Convention, of the reach of the Law of the Sea into Caribbean development.

The Law of the Sea in the Caribbean argues for greater regional cooperation as a means of achieving the promise of truly significant participation by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in Caribbean development.

The book is published by Brill Academic Publishers, a Dutch international publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands which prides itself on producing, “Over three centuries of scholarly publishing.”

The Law of the Sea in the Caribbean is the latest academic text authored by Justice Anderson. The Judge has written several other leading texts including Caribbean Private International Law (Second edition, Sweet & Maxwell, London, 2014) and Principles of Caribbean Environmental Law (Environmental Law Institute, Washington, 2012).

He is also editor of the Eminent Caribbean Jurists Series published by the CCJ Academy for Law, of which he is Chairman. Titles in the Series thus far are: Eminent Caribbean International Law Jurists: The Rule of International Law in the Caribbean (2019); and Eminent Caribbean Jurists: Pioneering Caribbean Women Jurists (2021) (co-editor).

The Hon. Mr. Justice Winston Charles Anderson is of Jamaican nationality and humble upbringing.  He was born in Saint Ann’s Bay, Saint Ann, raised in the rural village of Brittonville, attended Brittonville Primary School and later Ferncourt High School, from which he transferred to Saint Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) in Kingston. 

He entered the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies in 1980, and graduated in 1983 with the Degree of Bachelor of Laws. He taught undergraduate courses, including International Law, at UWI, whilst also pursuing the Master’s in Law degree there.

In 1984, he proceeded on Commonwealth & Chevening Scholarships to Cambridge University, England from which he graduated in 1988 with a Doctorate in Philosophy majoring in International and Environmental Law. 

While there he completed a course of training at the Inns of Court School of Law in London and was called to the Bar of England and Wales, as a Barrister of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn.

Dr. Anderson was appointed General Counsel of the Caribbean Community (on secondment from UWI) from 2003 to 2006, and in 2006, UWI Professor of Law. Professor Anderson returned to the Faculty of Law in 2006 and was called to the Bar of Jamaica, also in 2006. He was appointed Executive Director of the Caribbean Law Institute Centre, in 2007, a position he held until 2010.

On 15 June 2010, Professor Anderson was sworn in as Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice in a ceremony at King’s House, Jamaica, presided over by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen and attended by the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, and other dignitaries. 

The Hon Mr Justice Anderson has the distinction of being the first Jamaican and, at age 49, the youngest judge ever appointed to the CCJ.