The Caribbean court of justice: one court with two jurisdictions: a unique judicial institution?

The purpose of this paper is, after briefly presenting why, when and how the Caribbean Court of Justice was created, to specifically show how unique the institution is, by examining its distinctive characteristics. Exercising both an appellate and an original jurisdiction, the institution functions as a domestic final Court of appeal shared by several sovereign States (appellate jurisdiction) and an international tribunal designed to settle disputes between the same sovereign States and, more generally, disputes related to the Caribbean Community (original jurisdiction). There is no equivalent institution in the world, which renders the study of the Caribbean Court of Justice particularly interesting from an international legal point of view and explains why “unique” is the adjective often used to describe the court.