The Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago is the highest judge of the state Trinidad and Tobago and presides its Supreme Court of Judicature. He is appointed by a common decision of the President, the Prime Minister and the leader of the main opposition party.
Tobago was claimed for England already by King James I in 1608, however in the following time saw varying rulers. In 1794, a planter was elected the first Chief Justice. The island was eventually ceded to the United Kingdom in 1814 at the Treaty of Paris and from 1833 it was assigned to the colony of the British Windward Islands.
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. The post of a Chief Justice was established in March of the same year. Both islands, Trinidad and Tobago were incorporated into a single colony in 1888, which gained its independence in 1962.
Chief Justices of the Island of Tobago
1794–1799: John Balfour (non-lawyer)1799–1804: Robert Paterson (non-lawyer)1805–1828 ?: Elphinstone Pigott1828–1832 No appointment1832–1833: Richard Newton Bennett 1833–? G. Buchanan - substitute for Robert Sympson Jameson1840–1841: Robert Nicholas Fynn 1841–1861: Edward Dyer Sanderson 1862–1867: Henry Iles Woodcock 1868–1880: Joseph King Wattley, Jnr 1880–1882: James Sherrard Armstrong 1882–1888: John Worrell Carrington Chief Judges of the Island of Trinidad
1797–1808: John Nihell 1808–1811: George Smith 1814–1818: John Thomas Bigge 1818–1830: Ashton Warner Chief Justices of the Island of Trinidad
1669–?: Juan Fermin de Huidobro 1832–1849: George Scotland 1849–1869: William George Knox 1870–1885: Joseph Needham 1886–1888: Sir John Gorrie Chief Justices of Trinidad and Tobago
1888–1892: Sir John Gorrie 1892–1899: John Tankerville Goldney 1900–1903: Sir William John Anderson 1903–1907: Ernest Augustus Northcote 1908–1924: Alfred van Waterschoodt Lucie-Smith 1924–1926: Sir Stanley Fisher (afterwards Chief Justice of Ceylon, 1926)1927–1930: Sir Philip James Macdonell (afterwards Chief Justice of Ceylon, 1930)1930–1937: Charles Frederic Belcher 1937–1943: Charles Cyril Gerathy 1943–1946: Henry William Butler Blackall 1946–1952: Cecil Furness-Smith 1952–1958: Joseph Leon Mathieu Perez 1958–1960: Stanley Eugene Gomes (afterwards Chief Justice of the West Indies Federation, 1961)1961–1962: Arthur Hugh McShine (acting) 1962–1968: Hugh Olliviere Beresford Wooding 1969–1970: Arthur Hugh McShine 1970–1971: Clement Phillips (acting) 1972–1983: Isaac Hyatali 1983–1985: Cecil Kelsick 1985–1995: Clinton Bernard 1995–2002: Michael de la Bastide 2002–2008: Satnarine Sharma 2008–present: Ivor Archie 