There was standing room only at Government House yesterday as scores of family, Attorneys and friends  looked on as Mr. Brian Moree was sworn in as the new Chief Justice.

He was sworn in by Deputy to the Governor General C.A. Smith  some  nine months after former Chief  Justice Stephen Isaacs past away. 

On current state of the judiciary,  Mr. Moree said it won’t be business as usual.

“We’ve got to see if we can get an allocation  of national resources which are consistent with the status of the judiciary in our constitution. 

“We do need major reforms, we do need changes and we intend to address some of these challenges very directly in the short term.

“I don’t think it’s going to be business as usual. We do have an agenda of items, we are going to see if we can implement changes.  We’re going to be working with all the stakeholders who are involved with the administration of justice to see if we can make some substitute changes to improve the way in which we are conducting business at the present time.

“The only other thing I would say at this early day is that we need to address seriously the various public registers of the courts or what I call the back doors of the courts,” he said.  

As for the backlog in the court system, Mr. Moree noted that this is an issue that court systems around the world are dealing with. He added that his intent is to look at the issue from a different perspective. 

“We’ve got to try and look at that with some fresh eyes and we intend to do that over the next several months and come up with some new ideas on how to better manage that in order to deliver our services to the Bahamian public in a more efficient and effective way,” he said.   

Mr. Moree described the feeling of becoming Chief Justice as humbling,  adding that he was grateful to have the opportunity to serve his country.

“I am profoundly of the view that we need in the private sector to be prepared to do some public service for our country and I just felt like this is an opportunity where I can give something back to a country that has been very good to me and to my family,” the new Chief Justice said.  

Mr. Moree added that it is his hope that he leaves the judiciary better than he met it.