High Court

The High Court, with locations at the Hall of Justice and the Family Court in Port of Spain, San Fernando and Scarborough, Tobago, exercises original jurisdiction over indictable criminal matters, family matters, and in civil matters (inclusive of interlocutory applications and informal motions in Chamber Courts).

In pursuit of a vision of efficiency and timeliness in the administration of justice especially in light of a perennially increasing workload, the Judiciary has taken steps over the years to seek increases to its statutory judicial manpower. Along with the progressive increase of Judges from six to 23 between 1962 and 2003, six temporary Judges were appointed in January 2006 to deal with the increased court workload. These numbers soon proved to be quite inadequate due to the inexorable upsurge in the levels of crime in Trinidad and Tobago and the implementation of new Civil Proceedings Rules in September 2005, both of which increased demands on the Courts dramatically. As mentioned earlier, an expansion of the High Court Bench to 36 has been approved by Cabinet.