Jamaica Observer column published Monday 12, February 2024
by Jean Lowrie-Chin
The judiciary and members of the Jamaican Bar Association have lost one of their greatest luminaries, retired Justice C Dennis Morrison.
The
Jamaica Observer noted that on hearing of his passing former Prime Minister P J Patterson said, “Our jurisprudence has lost a giant in its evolution.” Indeed, Rhodes scholar Morrison was at the start of this evolution. Committed to the advancement of human rights, he had joined Dennis Daly’s Freedom Chambers after completing his studies at Oxford University and worked as a final year law student with Daly at the Legal Aid Clinic. A member of the first class of graduates of Norman Manley Law School, Morrison was called to the Bar in 1975.
A statement from the General Legal Council recounted his brilliant career as lecturer at the Norman Manley and Hugh Wooding law schools, president of Jamaica’s Court of Appeal, and “multiple appellate courts”. The past student of Wolmer’s Boys’ School and Jamaica College had also served on the bench in several other Caribbean jurisdictions.
Morrison was one of four legal luminaries honoured by the Jamaican Bar Association in 2021. Referring to his service as president of the Court of Appeal from 2016 to 2020, the citation noted, “In those few years, he created an outstanding body of work, both in his many written judgments and in his leadership of the court. Some of those judgments are now the leading authorities on a wide range of issues.”
My deepest sympathy to his dear wife Janet, his children, family, and close friends.
Source: Jamaica Observer – https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2024/02/12/keen-watch-local-govt-elections/
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