89-year-old retired high court judge Justice Monica Joseph who lived at Lance Aux Epines in the south of the island in Grenada passed away Thursday night at the St George’s General Hospital after a prolonged period of illness.
Justice Monica has had a long and distinguished career in the legal profession including acting stints on the OECS Court of Appeal.
Born January 10, 1934, the female lawyer was called to the Bar in November 1966 at Lincoln’s Inn in the United Kingdom.
She also served as a Judge of the OECS Supreme Court from 1982 to 1995 with a lengthy stint in St Vincent & The Grenadines.
She also had the distinction of being the first woman to be appointed to serve on the OECS Court Circuit in 1982 and in the 1991/1992 period recorded another feat as the first woman to be appointed to act on the OECS Court of Appeal.
The retired judge also served as head of the Public Service Commission (PSC) in Grenada under a former New National Party (NNP) government of Ex-Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell.
She also had stints under the NNP as acting Governor-General when the holder of the position was out of State and became known as Deputy to Governor-General.
Justice Monica, a devoted Roman Catholic, also served as President of the Grenada Netball Association (GNA) from 1997 to 2004, and also as a Member of the Girl Guide Association Council.
In 1994, the female legal luminary featured in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGS) magazine entitled ‘Outstanding Women in the Western Hemisphere – Collection of Biographies of Women who have had an Influence on the Girl Guide Movement in the Western Hemisphere.
In June 1997, Justice Monica was bestowed with the award of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).
She was also awarded a Doctor of Laws by the University of the West Indies in 2003. She was subsequently promoted to Solicitor General and on the Bench becoming the first female in the OECS to be promoted to the Bench of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (OECS). She served as a High Court judge and a Justice of Appeal.
Paying tribute to Justice Joseph, Grenadian Prime Minister Dr. Dickon Mitchell stated that Justice Joseph was “an esteemed figure in the legal profession and trailblazer in many respects and “her outstanding contributions to our nation and the Caribbean, having served across the region, have left an enduring legacy that will continue to inspire generations of legal professionals.”
Tribute in honour of Her Ladyship, The Hon. Justice Clare Henry
The Judicial Officers, Management, and Staff of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) join the legal fraternity in the Eastern Caribbean in mourning the passing of Her Ladyship, the Hon. Justice Clare Henry.
Justice Henry was a highly accomplished legal professional with a career spanning over four decades in the private and public sectors and the judiciary. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Howard University in 1974. She then attended the New York Law School as a Thurgood Marshall Scholar, obtaining her Juris Doctor degree in 1980. Later on, Justice Henry enrolled in the Hugh Wooding Law School and completed her Certificate of Legal Education in October 1986. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1980 and the Antigua and Barbuda Bar in May 1987.
From 1986 to 1989, Justice Henry served as Crown Counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers for Antigua & Barbuda. From 1989 to 1994, Justice Henry was engaged in private law practice in Antigua & Barbuda. Justice Henry began her esteemed career on the bench as a Magistrate in Antigua and Barbuda in December 1994. Her exceptional performance in the magistracy led to her promotion to the position of Chief Magistrate in February 2000.
Justice Henry’s upward movement in the judiciary would soon continue. She was first appointed as an acting High Court Judge assigned to the Commonwealth of Dominica from September 15 to December 31, 2003, and demonstrated exceptional skill during her stint. It came as little surprise then when in January 2004, she was permanently appointed as a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean.
Justice Henry spent 19 years serving on the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Bench. Throughout her tenure, she served with distinction as a Judge of the High Court in the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Anguilla, Saint Vincent, & the Grenadines, Montserrat, and finally, Antigua and Barbuda until her retirement in March 2019. Her reputation for excellence led to frequent requests for her to serve as an acting Justice of Appeal during her time on the Bench. She had the added distinction of serving as an acting Justice of Appeal during the Special Sitting of the Court in Antigua and Barbuda in February 2017 to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
Justice Henry’s eminent career as a distinguished judge can be characterized as a commitment to ideals and dedication to purpose and service. She embodied and epitomized the ECSC and what it symbolized for all citizens of the Eastern Caribbean. She was always polite to counsel, even those with whom she strongly disagreed. She was zealous for justice and ensured the evenhanded application of the law. Justice Henry’s judgments were uniformly scholarly, meticulously researched, and carefully reasoned, and often cited throughout the Eastern Caribbean.
Her decisions demonstrated that she protected the constitutional rights of any person or group, that, as prescribed by Law and the Constitution, she preferred neither the rich nor the poor, but rather according to all equal justice. As such, she never sought to enlarge the judicial power beyond its proper bounds, nor did she fear to carry it to the fullest extent that duty required.