AI rules for lawyers, by country · The Caribbean · Caribbean Court of Justice and Jamaica
The Caribbean: a final appellate court and a Supreme Court wrote the AI rules early
Caribbean Court of Justice, Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025, 14 February 2025 · Supreme Court of Jamaica, Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025, 17 September 2025
Page verified 7 September 2026. Both directions read in full at the courts’ own sites. Every quotation below is from the document.
The Caribbean has two instruments this record treats as first of their kind. The Caribbean Court of Justice, the final appellate court for a group of CARICOM states, wrote in February 2025 that court users “may be required to demonstrate how such verifications were conducted”. Jamaica’s Supreme Court wrote in September 2025 the only mandatory declaration on this record that names the AI tool and its version. Between them: the duty, the declaration, and the reserved right to see the proof.
The two instruments
- 14 Feb 2025Caribbean Court of Justice, Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025. GenAI barred from affidavits, witness statements and evidence, and from “altering, embellishing, strengthening, diluting or otherwise rephrasing” a witness’s evidence. Outputs checked against authoritative texts. Proof of the verification process may be required. Costs, rejection or diminished weight.
- 17 Sep 2025Supreme Court of Jamaica, Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025. Mandatory Appendix declaration naming the tool and version. “Hallucination” defined in the text. Generated likenesses barred from virtual hearings. Contempt and disciplinary referral for non-compliance.
- LocatedFurther instruments in the region, including the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, are reported by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association. Not read at source, so not described here.
Why the region matters
Most of the record describes courts catching up. The Caribbean got ahead. The CCJ direction predates New South Wales, Qatar and Ireland, and its formula for witness evidence is the one Ireland’s HC 142 adopted seventeen months later. Jamaica’s declaration form asks for more than any other instrument here: tool, version, the affected portions, and a signature over the words “independently verified by the undersigned”.
What neither can do is turn the declaration into evidence. A signed form records that a person promised. When the CCJ exercises Part IV.2 and asks how the verification was conducted, or a Jamaican judge directs further particulars under para 6.2, the answer has to come from a record of the work: which AI, which passages, what was checked against what, by whom, and when. That gap is the subject of its own page.
What to do about it
Seven days free, then $349 a month. Or run it across the estate.
The CCJ may ask how the check was done. Jamaica asks for the tool and the version in writing. A signed record made on your own machine carries both, sealed to the document that was filed, and anyone can verify it free without trusting you.
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See also the attorney receipt, the free verifier, and every jurisdiction we track.
Sources
Related
- AI rules for lawyers, country by country
- Ireland, the same witness-evidence formula, July 2026
- Verification is becoming a duty. Evidence of verification is the missing layer.
- The sanctions record
Checked 7 September 2026, both directions read in full at source. Information, not legal advice.
Common questions
Does the Caribbean Court of Justice have rules on AI in court?
Yes. Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025, issued 14 February 2025 by the President of the Court, bars generative AI from affidavits, witness statements and evidential material, requires outputs to be checked against authoritative texts, and says court users may be required to demonstrate how the verification was conducted.
Does Jamaica require a declaration when AI is used in a court document?
Yes. Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025, in effect 17 September 2025, requires a declaration in the form of its Appendix naming the tool and its version and confirming that all information, citations and representations were independently verified by the person signing.
What happens if the Caribbean rules are not followed?
Before the CCJ, costs orders and rejection or diminished evidentiary weight of the document. In Jamaica, refusal to admit the document, disregard of the submission, costs, contempt of court, or referral of an attorney to the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council.
Information, not legal advice, and not advice on the law of any jurisdiction. Every entry is verified against the issuing body’s own document; where a source is reporting rather than the document, we say so.