Speaking at a special sitting of the Court of Appeal to commemorate his retirement after 22 years in the Judiciary and his recent elevation to the CCJ, Jamadar revealed that his curiosity on the appropriate balance between judicial conservatism and activism helped shaped some of his well-known decisions on controversial issues affecting society.
Jamadar said: "If the law is to be relevant and made effective, and if justice to be done for all manner of persons, judicial officers have to be able to imagine what is possible. Therefore this a call for imaginative and creative curiosity in the interpretation and application of the law."
However, he was careful to note that his suggestion did not give judges the "subjective licence to do what one wants".
"Rather it is an invitation for the employment of rigorous legal analysis which includes inter-disciplinary thoughts and social context considerations to give birth to the potential of the law to meet the needs and demands of justifiable rights and entitlements," Jamadar said. He referred to his judgements in a case which led to the Trinity Cross being renamed as the Order of T&T and another which affirmed the ability of lawyers to wear Nehru suits for court hearings.
In jest, Jamadar admitted that some of his colleagues were not enthused by his curiosity especially when they worked together on appeal panels.
"No one would hear the sighs and see the rolling eyes when I would be asking the questions," Jamadar said, as he signalled Appellate Judge Nolan Bureaux as a major offender.
"Even though ideologically we may be different, I have learned from him (Bereaux)," he said.
During his speech, Jamadar also encouraged young judges to listen to constructive criticism.
Jamadar recalled an incident when National Security Minister Stuart Young, who was a young attorney at the time, approached him and informed him that fellow lawyers were referring to him as "Judge Dread" as they thought he had changed his personality when he left private practice.
Jamadar thanked Young, who was present for the hearing, as he claimed that the incident made him introspect.
"Judges are not infallible. I was not. But judges can learn to be better judges but they must be prepared to receive honest feedback, to embrace it and to grow out of it," he said.
In his address during the ceremony, Appellate Judge Allan Mendonca, who spoke on behalf of the Judiciary, commended Jamadar for erudite judgements and for his work as chairman of the Judiciary Education Institute.
Mendonca also praised Jamadar's seminal paper on the need for sabbatical leave for local judicial officers as he said it was influential in convincing the Salaries Review Commission (SRC) to open the door to the facility, five years ago.
"Judges have not yet engaged that but it is only a matter of time before they do," Mendonca said.
Law Association president Douglas Mendes, Senior Counsel Ian Benjamin and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi all paid tributes to Jamadar, who took up his new position on Monday.
They also expressed hope that this country would, sooner rather than later, make the CCJ its final court of appeal.