FORMER judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and professor, Justice Duke Pollard died on Tuesday in a United States hospital after a brief illness.

According to a statement issued by the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall on Facebook, the former judge was 86.

“Justice Pollard spent most of his professional life at CARICOM, elevating himself as the chief legal draftsman in that organisation. He is credited with drafting most of the legal instruments of this institution. He headed the team that worked on the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas,” Minister Nandlall said.

He also authored many publications regarding Caribbean integration, and edited and compiled a consolidation of important legal agreements, treaties and instruments of CARICOM.

According to Minister Nandlall, Justice Pollard was part of an “elite team” which worked towards the establishment of the CCJ.

“No doubt, he would have played a lead role in drafting the agreements, instruments and legislation that created the court, including the rules of that court,” he added.

The AG said it was a privilege to appear before Justice Pollard.

“I will take the liberty of saying that he acquitted himself well as a member of the Caribbean’s highest court,” Nandlall said.

After his retirement, Justice Pollard became a lecturer in the Department of Law at the University of Guyana. It was during this stint that he was conferred with a professorship.

Pollard received his secondary education at Queen’s College (Guyana), after which he took the B.A. (Hons) and the LLB (Hons) degrees from the University of London. He followed these with Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees from both McGill and New York Universities.

He was also the holder of the Legal Education Certificate (LCE) from the Norman Manley Law School; a member of the Bars of Guyana and Jamaica, and a Fellow of the Centre for International and Comparative Law of McGill University.

Over the years, Justice Pollard established himself as an expert jurist in international law, specialising in international economic law, the Law of the Sea, international institutional law, the Law of Treaties, general integration law, and economic integration law.