§ Lady HermonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs, what countries use the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as their final court of appeal; how many cases have been heard by the Judicial Committee from each of these countries in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement. [134824]
Number of appeals Country 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total Antigua and Barbuda 2 — 1 2 — 5 The Bahamas 4 2(1) 3 3(1) 5 17(2) Barbados — 2(1) — 2 — 4(1) Belize 4(1) 2(1) 1(1) 3(1) 1 11(4) Brunei1 2 — — — — 2 Dominica — — 2(1) — 1 3(1) Grenada 2 — 1 4(1) 2 9(1) Jamaica 9 7(1) 10 4 8(1) 38(2) Kiribati2 — — — — — — Mauritius 3 3 4(1) 2(1) 3(1) 15(3) New Zealand3 6(1) 10(4) 8(2) 16(3) 14(1) 54(11) St. Christopher and Nevis — 1 — 1 2 4 St. Lucia — 1 3(2) — 2 6(2) St. Vincent and the Grenadines 2 — 4(1) 1 1(1) 8(2) Trinidad and Tobago 8 15(1) 8(1) 8(1) 14(3) 53(6) Tuvalu — — — — — — 1 An appeal lies from the Court of Appeal of Brunei to the Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan, in civil cases only. By agreement between Her Majesty and the Sultan these appeals are heard by the Judicial Committee who report their opinion to him instead of to Her Majesty. 2 The appeal lies only in constitutional cases affecting a Banaban. 3 New Zealand has recently legislated to abolish the appeal for all cases heard by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand after the end of 2003. Note: Figures in brackets (included in the total annual figure given) are for appeals disposed of without a hearing. These were mostly dismissed for non-prosecution or withdrawn.