Highway Robbery

EDITOR: Sometime ago when there was no one else available to teach English A at the CSEC level I undertook the task. We began the classes from the beginning with A for apple and B for bat. I remembered when La Soufriere was erupting in 1979 and we were confused and asked our Chemistry teacher Mrs Arlene Keane Browne where to begin revising, she said,” from the beginning.” Students who are confused during this Coronavirus Pandemic, and are wondering what to do, the same advice is for you, “begin your review of all your work at the beginning.”

Do not let the instability of the times cause you to fall behind with your school work. More than likely, your external CSEC or other examinations will take place soon or later. Do not be a victim of Highway Robbery of your education and your future.

After extensive use of the Public Library and many simple book reports, the English A classes soon graduated to the use of the Newspapers and several responses were written to the court reports but none was published. Nevertheless, I will attempt to summarize our findings based on what I recall.

The unanimous conclusion of the review of the court cases was that there appears to be a conspiracy to rob the ordinary citizen. A typical case may involve a defendant, robbing a plaintiff of money, and sent to prison by a judge with both parties represented by lawyers. What role does each member of the court appear to play in the robbery of the ordinary citizen?

The Defendant stole the plaintiff’s money, does not restore it in most instances, and goes to prison at the expense of the plaintiff. Thus, the Plaintiff is penalized twice.

Both lawyers received their payments for their appearance in court. The plaintiff pays his lawyer and additionally pays for the upkeep of the court. The plaintiff again pays twice. It is uncertain whether the lawyers pay any income tax for the upkeep of the court.

The judge presides over the court and may claim that his hands are tied and he can only rule according to the law. However, I understand that our jurisprudence is inherited from the British system, which gives credence to Common Law.

Consequently, this is what our ruling would be: 1. The Defendant keeps his job, pension and gratuity 2. The Defendant goes for counselling 3. The Defendant is given a suspended sentence 4. The Plaintiff’s money is restored from the Defendant’s salary, pension, gratuity, and sale of some property if necessary.

5. If the Defendant goes to prison it should be at his own expense 6. Character witness from a member of the Income tax Department certifying that all members of the court particularly Lawyers, are paying their fair share for the upkeep of the court.

In our estimation it is Highway Robbery for the Plaintiff to pay for:

1. Laywer fees

2. Lose his property

3. Pay for incarceration of the Defendant

4. Pay for the upkeep of the court In the meantime, the Defendant and Lawyers are apparently getting a free ride. It is not too late to restore what was lost to our citizen victims

where possible. Can Friendly Society victims of Central Leeward get back their monies? Can the full amount of money removed by a Registrar be restored?

Where means are available from Defendants, full restitution should be made. In this way we can right Historical Wrongs. Who will make written laws to codify the common unwritten laws to make it easier for the judge to make his rulings?

Anthony Stewart, PhD