FORMER Chief Justice Sir Hartman Longley was sworn in as president of the Court of Appeal during a ceremony at Government House on Friday.

Senior Supreme Court Justice Stephen Isaacs was also sworn in as acting chief justice at the same event.

“I never dreamt that my career would take the course that it has led to this day,” Sir Hartman told reporters. “And so I am extremely grateful to the Bahamian people and the government of the Bahamas for vesting the confidence in me at this stage of my career to lead one of the most important institutions of this country.”

He said his first duty is to ensure the hearing of cases are expedited.

Acting Chief Justice Isaacs also spoke of the need to reduce the case backlog in the courts. “We have to institute mechanisms to bring it (the case backlog) down. That is a constant effort as the president of the Court of Appeal has said, time to disposition of judgements, disposal of criminal cases is usually the key to reducing the backlog,” Justice Isaacs said.

Sir Hartman replaces former Court of Appeal President Dame Anita Allen, whose retirement took effect on December 21.