Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago

Tobago was claimed for England already by King James I in 1608, however in the following time saw varying rulers.[2] In 1794, a planter was elected the first chief justice.[3] The island was eventually ceded to the United Kingdom in 1814 at the Treaty of Paris[4] and from 1833 it was assigned to the colony of the British Windward Islands.[5]

In 1797 Trinidad, who had been previously controlled by the Spanish Crown, was captured by a fleet commanded by Sir Ralph Abercromby and thus came under British government.[6] The post of a chief justice was established in March of the same year.[7] Both islands, Trinidad and Tobago were incorporated into a single colony in 1888, which gained its independence in 1962.[8]

• 1794–1799: John Balfour [3] (non-lawyer)
• 1799–1804: Robert Paterson [9] (non-lawyer)
• 1805–1828 ?: Elphinstone Pigott
• 1828–1832 No appointment
• 1832–1833: Richard Newton Bennett [10]
• 1833–? G. Buchanan [11] - substitute for Robert Sympson Jameson
• 1840–1841: Robert Nicholas Fynn [12]
• 1841–1861: Edward Dyer Sanderson [13]
• 1862–1867: Henry Iles Woodcock [14]
• 1868–1880: Joseph King Wattley, Jnr [15]
• 1880–1882: James Sherrard Armstrong [16]
• 1882–1888: John Worrell Carrington [17]

• 1797–1808: John Nihell [7]
• 1808–1811: George Smith [18]
• 1814–1818: John Thomas Bigge [19]
• 1818–1830: Ashton Warner [20]

• 1669–?: Juan Fermin de Huidobro [21]
• 1832–1849: George Scotland [19]
• 1849–1869: William George Knox [22]
• 1870–1885: Joseph Needham [23]
• 1886–1888: Sir John Gorrie [24]

• 1888–1892: Sir John Gorrie [25]
• 1892–1899: John Tankerville Goldney [26]
• 1900–1903: Sir William John Anderson [27]
• 1903–1907: Ernest Augustus Northcote [28]
• 1908–1924: Alfred van Waterschoodt Lucie-Smith [29]
• 1924–1926: Sir Stanley Fisher [30] (afterwards Chief Justice of Ceylon, 1926)
• 1927–1930: Sir Philip James Macdonell [31] (afterwards Chief Justice of Ceylon, 1930)
• 1930–1937: Charles Frederic Belcher [32]
• 1937–1943: Charles Cyril Gerahty [33]
• 1943–1946: Henry William Butler Blackall [34]
• 1946–1952: Cecil Furness-Smith [35]
• 1952–1958: Joseph Leon Mathieu Perez [36]
• 1958–1960: Stanley Eugene Gomes [37] (afterwards Chief Justice of the West Indies Federation, 1961)
• 1961–1962: Arthur Hugh McShine (acting) [38]
• 1962 - Trinidad and Tobago became the independent
• 1962–1968: Sir Hugh Olliviere Beresford Wooding [39]
• 1969–1970: Arthur Hugh McShine [38]
• 1970–1971: Clement Phillips (acting) [40]
• 1972–1983: Sir Isaac Hyatali [41]
• 1976 - Trinidad and Tobago is declared as the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
• 1983–1985: Cecil Kelsick [42]
• 1985–1995: Clinton Bernard [43]
• 1995–2002: Michael de la Bastide [44]
• 2002–2008: Satnarine Sharma [45]
• 2008–present: Ivor Archie [46]

• "Judiciary of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago". Archived from the original on 13 February 2010. Retrieved 24 December 2009.