JUSTICE (NO1) vs. ATTORNEY-GENERAL

JUDGMENT CHARLES HAYFRON-BENJAMIN JSC delivered the judgment of the court. On 31 July 1998 this court dismissed (with the reasons reserved), the writ of the plaintiff, ie the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice - invoking the assistance of this court to re­ solve an apparent conflict in the relative positions of the parties vis-a-vis their respective functions under the 1992 Constitution. For, whereas the plaintiff is, "in the performance of its functions, not subject to the direction or control of any person or authority", the defendant, the Attorney­ General, on the other hand, is a member of the executive branch of government and the chief legal adviser to the government. The principles of the separation of powers, to which to a great extent our Constitution gives support, enjoin this court as arbiters of conflicts within the Constitution, in the interpretation or enforcement thereof, not to adopt attitudes and positions, which may appear to incline us into p.....