The UWI’s Royal Charter amended to appoint Justice Rolston Nelson
as Visitor, replacing Her Majesty the Queen.
Regional Headquarters, Kingston, Jamaica, Saturday, 25 May 2019—In a historic move on the heels of The University’s 70th anniversary, the Honourable Justice Rolston Fitzherbert Nelson (retired) has been appointed Visitor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) with effect from May 1, 2019—a position previously held by Her Majesty the Queen of England.
Since inception, Article 6 of The UWI’s original Royal Charter has stated that Her Majesty the Queen holds the title of “Visitor” of the University, which confers on the holder the right or duty of occasionally inspecting and reporting on a college or other academic institution. The decision to appoint Justice Nelson was finalised during the closed session of the meeting of the University Council on April 26, 2019 hosted at the St Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago.
A key role of the Visitor is to settle UWI disputes with staff and/or students. Traditionally, staff and students have had the right to appeal decisions of the University to the Visitor after all other internal remedies had been exhausted. The Visitor has the authority to adjudicate on matters based on the interpretation and application of the University’s Charter, Statutes, Ordinances, Regulations and other governing instruments and his/her decisions on such matters are considered final.
However, in the last 10 years, none of the appeals of students and staff have been heard. In its pursuit of having justice served and a system in place to expedite hearings on such matters, The UWI initiated proceedings in 2015 to propose that the Visitor delegate this responsibility to a judicial officer of high repute. The appointment of Justice Nelson means that there is now a functional system for any petitions to be heard expeditiously.
The process leading to Justice Nelson’s appointment follows the precedent set by other Commonwealth universities established by Royal Charter, to amend their Charters to empower their University’s Councils to name their Visitors. On November 7, 2018, Her Majesty endorsed, and the Privy Council approved the amendment to Article 6 of The UWI’s Charter to have its Council name its Visitor.
At its meeting on April 26, 2019, University Council accepted the recommendation to appoint Justice Nelson, eminent jurist, as the first Visitor from the region. Justice Nelson will serve for a period of five years, in the first instance.
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More about Justice Rolston Nelson
The Honourable Justice Rolston Fitzherbert Nelson was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1970 following his education at University of Oxford, then the University of London. In 1973, he was appointed a tutor at the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, and was admitted to practise at the Jamaican Bar in the same year. Two years later, in 1975, Mr. Nelson was admitted to practise at the Trinidad and Tobago Bar and began private practice in 1976. In October 1993, he was admitted to the Inner Bar as a senior counsel. Mr. Justice Nelson was sworn in directly from the Bar as Justice of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Judicature of Trinidad and Tobago in May 1999, then as Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice on Tuesday 1 February 2005 until May 2017. As the Senior Judge, Mr. Justice Nelson served as Acting President of the Court on several occasions.
In addition to his private practice, Mr. Justice Nelson has been an Associate Tutor at the Hugh Wooding Law School since 1978. He is the author of several articles and case notes appearing in legal journals, including the British Tax Review and the Jamaica Law Journal. From 1987-1999 Mr. Justice Nelson was the editor of The Lawyer, the journal of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, of whose every council he was an elected member since its inception until his elevation to the Bench. He was a former vice-president of the Association, and a member of the Rules Committee of Trinidad and Tobago as a nominee of the Association. He is an Honorary Distinguished Fellow of The University of the West Indies and a former Visiting Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London.
About The UWI
For the past 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and four campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Asia, and Africa such as the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development, the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology, Social Sciences and Sport.
As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. Times Higher Education has ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018, and was the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.
(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)
