Procedures
ECSC Civil Procedure Rules 2000 with a Privy Council apex
Civil litigation follows the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules 2000, beginning with a claim form and statement of claim, with 14 days to acknowledge service and 28 days to file a defence. The High Court sits in Kingstown and the itinerant Court of Appeal visits on circuit, with a further appeal to the Privy Council. The Public Authorities Protection Act limits claims against public bodies to one year.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — ECSC High Court in Kingstown; itinerant Court of Appeal; Privy Council final
- Deadline — Acknowledgment of service: 14 days from service
- Deadline — Defence: 28 days from service of the claim form
- Deadline — Appeal to the Court of Appeal: 42 days final, 21 days interlocutory
- Deadline — Claim against a public authority: within one year of the act
Governing law
- Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules 2000
- Limitation Act
- Public Authorities Protection Act
- Arbitration Act
In practice
Service in the Grenadines raises practical difficulties that the rules do not solve, and applications for substituted service are common where a defendant is on one of the smaller islands. As elsewhere in the ECSC, the one-year limit for claims against public authorities overrides the general limitation period and is the most frequent cause of a good claim being struck out.