 | This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject.(August 2020) |
Sir Anthony Stafford Smellie KCMG KC is the Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands. [1] [2]
| This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject.(August 2020) |
Sir Anthony Stafford Smellie KCMG KC is the Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands. [1] [2]
Smellie received his LLB from the University of the West Indies in 1975. He was called to the bar in Jamaica, where he served as Clerk of the Courts in Westmoreland from 1976 to 1977. He then worked as Crown Counsel and Assistant Director of Public Prosecution from 1977 to 1983. He was an assistant lecturer at the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica from 1980 to 1983. [3]
He moved to the Cayman Islands in 1983, where he served as Principal Crown Counsel and Solicitor General from 1983 to 1992. Justice Smellie was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1991. He was acting Attorney General from January to November 1992. In January 1993, he was appointed judge of the Grand Court. He then became the Chief Justice in June 1998. [3]
He is a founding member of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, representing the Cayman Islands, and he serves as the Mutual Legal Assistance Authority under the United States/Cayman Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. [4]
In 2018, he was appointed to Bermuda's Court of Appeal. [5]
Smellie was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (KCMG) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to law and justice in the Cayman Islands and the Caribbean. [6]
The Cayman Islands is a parliamentary representative democratic dependency. As a British Overseas Territories, Charles III is the head of state. The Premier of the Cayman Islands is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government, legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of the Cayman Islands. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire, including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and those on the Leeward and Windward Islands, came together to form the Federation, with its capital in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The expressed intention of the Federation was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state—possibly similar to the Canadian Confederation, Australian Commonwealth, or Central African Federation. Before that could happen, the Federation collapsed due to internal political conflicts over how it would be governed or function viably. The formation of a West Indian Federation was encouraged by the United Kingdom, but also requested by West Indian nationalists.
Sir Robin Ernest Auld, is a former Lord Justice of Appeal in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.
Sir John Bernard Goldring is a British judge. He currently sits as the President of the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal, and serves as the Deputy Investigatory Powers Commissioner. He formerly sat on the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.
The Hon. Ira De Cordova Rowe, QC, OJ was one of the jurists of the Commonwealth Caribbean. His decisions on Jamaican, Belizan and Bahamian Constitution Law created a new Commonwealth jurisprudence based on the Westminster Model with a strong reliance on the wording of the new Commonwealth Caribbean Constitutions. Judge Rowe's fearless support for the Caribbean Court of Justice swayed many of the Court's initial critics. His belief that Caribbean students were as good as any law students in the world inspired many young lawyers of Caribbean heritage. Always a scholar, Judge Rowe thought that judges ought not to usurp the role of the legislator and based most of his more than five hundred published Opinions on principles of English and Caribbean Law as laid down in precedents and statutes. He believed that the newly independent Caribbean nations needed efficient, practical legal systems based on certainty and stability. He considered The Most Hon. Norman Washington Manley Q.C. a professional mentor.
Sir Edward Zacca was chief justice of the Jamaican Supreme Court from 1985 to 1996. Under the Constitution of Jamaica, the chief justice of Jamaica serves as acting governor-general of Jamaica when that office is vacant, and Chief Justice Zacca served in that capacity from March to August 1991. Zacca was succeeded as Chief Justice by the Hon. Mr. Justice Lensley Wolfe.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the Cayman Islands may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in the Cayman Islands. Despite anti-gay attitudes expressed by certain members of the government, social acceptance by the Caymanian public has been known to be some of the best in the Caribbean.
The judiciary of Jamaica is based on the judiciary of the United Kingdom. The courts are organized at four levels, with additional provision for appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The Court of Appeal is the highest appellate court. The Supreme Court has unlimited jurisdiction in all cases, and sits as the Circuit Court to try criminal cases. The Parish Court in each parish hears both criminal and civil cases, excluding grave offences. The Petty Sessions are held under Justices of the Peace, with power to hear minor crimes.
The Honourable Sir Alastair Granville Forbes was a Caribbean-born British colonial civil servant who served with the Colonial Legal Service and ended his career as President of the Courts of Appeal for St Helena, the Falkland Islands and British Antarctic Territories from 1965 until 1988.
Gerald Paul Nazareth CBE, GBS was a Hong Kong senior judge, who served in Hong Kong, Brunei and Bermuda.
Arifin bin Zakaria is a Malaysian lawyer who served as the seventh Chief Justice of Malaysia, serving from 12 September 2011, succeeding Zaki Azmi, until 31 March 2017.
Sir Lascelles Lister Robotham was a Jamaican lawyer and judge who worked in a number of Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean. He was Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court from 1984 until his retirement in 1991.
Sir Richard William Ground, was an English judge in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
Zaila Rowena McCalla, O.J. is a Jamaican judge. Between 2007 and 2018, she was the Chief Justice of Jamaica.
Ivor Archie, ORTT is a Trinidadian jurist who has served as chief justice of Trinidad and Tobago since 2008. He was formerly solicitor general of the Cayman Islands.
Same-sex marriage is currently not recognised in the Cayman Islands. The island's statutory law limits marriage to different-sex couples. A lawsuit with the Grand Court successfully challenged this ban in March 2019; however, the Court of Appeal overturned the ruling in November 2019. Same-sex civil partnerships are legal following the enactment of the Civil Partnership Law, 2020 on 4 September 2020.
Hon. Kenneth George Smith, OJ, was a Jamaican judge. He was Chief Justice of Jamaica from 1973 to 1984.
Margaret Ramsay-Hale is a Jamaican lawyer and judge. She is currently serving as a justice of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, a position that she has held since 13 January 2020. Ramsay-Hale was previously the first female puisne judge and the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Reshma Sharma is a Trinidad and Tobago lawyer and judge. She is currently serving as the Solicitor General of the Cayman Islands, a position that she has held since 1 August 2019.
 | This Caymanian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  | This Jamaican biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This biographical article relating to law is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |