The Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress has joined the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty in mourn­ing the pass­ing of dis­tin­guished Caribbean ju­rist Michael de la Bastide, KC.

The for­mer chief jus­tice passed away this morn­ing.

In a state­ment, the UNC said dur­ing his il­lus­tri­ous ca­reer, Mr de la Bastide made an ex­ten­sive and con­scious con­tri­bu­tion to jus­tice and leg­isla­tive gov­er­nance in his var­i­ous tenures.

The par­ty said as chief jus­tice and first pres­i­dent of the Caribbean Court of Jus­tice (CCJ), he dis­pensed jus­tice with deep in­sight, knowl­edge, and ex­pe­ri­ence.

" He was ear­li­er a voice of rea­son and ex­per­tise as an in­de­pen­dent sen­a­tor and as pres­i­dent of the Law As­so­ci­a­tion. Mr de la Bastide has made an en­dur­ing con­tri­bu­tion to the le­gal pro­fes­sion and the de­liv­ery of jus­tice, for which he will al­ways be re­mem­bered and ho­n­oured," it said.