Constructing a jurisdiction, creating a sovereign Caribbean: Constitutional moments at the Caribbean Court of Justice /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Cabatingan, Lee Elizabeth, author.
Imprint:2015.
Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2015
Description:1 electronic resource (244 pages)
Language:English
Format: E-Resource Dissertations
Local Note:School code: 0330
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10773220
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:University of Chicago. degree granting institution.
ISBN:9781339079608
Notes:Advisors: Stephan Palmie Committee members: John Comaroff; Susan Gal; Justin Richland.
Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 77-02(E), Section: A.
English
Summary:The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was established to serve as the exclusive arbiter of issues related to several regional economic treaties and to act as the final court of appeal for its independent English-speaking member states which, for the most part, continue to appeal their cases to the Privy Council in London. Through its original and appellate jurisdictions, then, the Court was promised to "deepen regional economic integration" and "close the circle of independence." Yet, since opening its doors in 2005, the CCJ has struggled in both of these endeavors. On average, only one original jurisdiction case has been filed each year, and, as of 2013, only three states had made the necessary constitutional changes to accede to its appellate jurisdiction. This is something that concerns the Court greatly. Thus, this dissertation is a study of how this newly established court works to address this problem. How does it construct its jurisdiction?
I follow recent scholarship in understanding jurisdiction as the constitution of and limits to a court's authority to speak the law through its speaking of the law. This self-authorization, in which the law determines the bounds of its own authority, closely associates jurisdiction with sovereignty. But while the source of sovereignty often remains relegated to theoretical conceptualizations and ontological questions, the construction of jurisdiction is observable in the mundane practices and processes of a court.
In my dissertation, therefore, I analyze the CCJ's everyday practices, courthouse characteristics, and repeated rituals, as well as its more extraordinary events to understand how the Court attempts to inject its speech with the performative force necessary to claim jurisdiction. In doing so, I necessarily explore the Court's labors as productive of a sovereignty that always already exists. I argue that through diverse efforts---from the spectacular (trials) to the spectacularly ordinary (walls)---the CCJ works to create and call upon something I have called 'Caribbeanness.' At times an emotional bond, transcendent higher authority, or sensible quality, Caribbeanness undergirds the Court's work to construct its jurisdiction and craft a sovereign Caribbean region.
Description
Item Description:Advisors: Stephan Palmie Committee members: John Comaroff; Susan Gal; Justin Richland.
Physical Description:1 electronic resource (244 pages)
ISBN:9781339079608