PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) —  The President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Justice Adrian Saunders says the former acting chief justice of Guyana, Ian Chang, has made an important contribution to the development of Guyanese and Caribbean jurisprudence.

“The judicial and legal profession in Guyana has lost a true champion of the law. Justice Chang will be sadly missed,” Justice Saunders said in a statement last weekend of Justice Chang who died at the Balwant Singh Hospital in Guyana from cancer.

He said Chang has to his name, “several outstanding judgments that are indelibly recorded in the law reports”.

“These judgments span an impressive range of subject areas again demonstrating the breadth of his knowledge of the law and his utter devotion to it,” Justice Saunders said, adding that he had known Justice Chang for more than 50 years dating back to their years as students at the Law Faculty of the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).

“Ian’s passion for the law, for legal argument, for interrogating the most esoteric nuances of the law is legendary. It was no surprise to me that he ultimately achieved high judicial office in his native Guyana,” Justice Saunders added.

In a statement, the Supreme Court of Judicature in Guyana said “Justice Chang served his profession and fellow Guyanese with great honour and integrity. His was a life of service to the nation.”

“He was respected for his phenomenal legal intellect and was a fountain of legal knowledge which he readily shared. Justice Chang’s death will undoubtedly leave a void in the justice system and with colleagues within the legal fraternity whose lives he impacted. The Judiciary and Magistracy express condolences to the family and friends of Justice Ian Chang.”

The Guyana Bar Association (GBA) also expressed condolences to Justice Chang’s family, saying the late Senior Counsel “made law his life”.

“His life was a testimony of dedication in, and to the law. His love for the law was one he demonstrated and shared with all of us who had any opportunity to have an interaction with him. This affection for the law was revealed and communicated in words, thoughts and actions which can be described as ‘Chang style’. We of the Bar Association know that his death is a loss of a friend and a mentor,” the GBA said.