Community
The Dependency Question
Rev. Sykes
Chapter 2 (Part 3)
'The defining events of the19th Century' cont'd.
The Cayman Islands Act was conceived asa result of an unusually well-focussed and sustained effort onthe part of the Colonial Office during 1862 to address and solvethe longstanding dependency question. This was seen to be necessaryin order to effect successfully a plan to appoint a greatly neededfull-time stipendiary magistrate to the Islands. The task of sucha person would be made possible only if he had laws to which hecould authoritatively refer.
Acting on a recommendation by Alexander Heslop, the Attorney-Generalfor Jamaica, to Captain Darling, the Governor, who endorsed it(2.23), the Colonial Secretary at the time, the Duke of Newcastle,made detailed enquiry into the extent that the Jamaican Governmenthad ever legislated for the Cayman Islands, in order to make aninformed decision about the legal basis of such provision.
The new Governor, Lieut - Gov. E. Eyre, had the Attorney Generalsupply him with the necessary legal information and with the CaymanRules and Ordinances that had resulted from the actions of theCayman Justices and Vestry. Since no copy of these existed inJamaica at the time, they had to be specially sent for from Caymanand copied. Having received all this information along with theviews of both the Jamaican Attorney General and the Governor,the Colonial Secretary referred to his Department's Law Officersfor advice and to the Imperial Law Officers.
The following letter, in which can be clearly seen what was developedand refined into the Cayman Islands Act of the 22nd June 1863,was sent to H.M. Government's Attorney General and Solicitor General(2.24).
W.S.
18th November 1862
The Attorney General
Solicitor General
Sir F. Rogers - 8 Nov
Mr. Fortescue - 10
Duke of Newcastle 12
Gov. of Jamaica
No.70 24 Mch
Duke of Newcastle
No. 444 20 Apl
Do 459 6 June Governor
No 66 23 Aug
M.S. Laws of Cayman
Sir,
I am directed by the Duke of Newcastleto enclose for the joint consideration of yourself and the Solicitor/AttorneyGeneral the correspondence noted in the margin respecting thelegal position of the Caymanas Islands in relation to the Governmentof Jamaica.
The Caymanas are situated about thirty leagues to the North Westof Jamaica, with which they are understood to have only casualmeans of communication by their fishing and trading Vessels. Thepopulation of Grand Cayman, the principal Island of the group,is stated to amount to about 2000 -
The Commissions granted by the Crown to the Governors of Jamaicaextend to that Island and its dependencies, but do not specifyof what those dependencies consist; and the only authority exercisedby the Governors of Jamaica over the Cayman Islands has been theappointment from time to time of Justices of the Peace & officersof Militia. - The Caymans are not represented in the Assemblyof Jamaica, and do not contribute to it's revenue; nor does theAssembly legislate for the Islands.
The Jamaica laws in force affecting the Caymans relate mainlyto their trade with the Colony and do not involve the assumptionof Legislative authority over them. The Colonial Attorney Generalhowever states that the Jamaica statutes are "consideredin force by the Justices and perhaps by the population generally(2.25)."
From the present papers, it appears that on the 5th December 1831a Public Meeting in the Island of Grand Cayman (2.26) determinedto elect Representatives for the purpose of framing Local Laws.Representatives were elected on the 10th & met on the 31stof the same month. The Magistrates also met and formed a separateChamber.
The two bodies together proceeded without the assent of the Crownor of the Governor of Jamaica to pass "Acts" professingto be enacted "by the Representatives and Magistrates atGrand Cayman".
In 1833 the authority of these Chambers being questioned, theMagistrates & Inhabitants addressed a Memorial on the subjectto the Governor of Jamaica. The Governor replied that he wouldrefer the Memorial to the Secretary of State and recommended theMemorialists in the meantime to proceed as theretofore in theregulation of their concerns. The memorial was accordingly forwardedto this Department but no practical step was at that time takenin the matter by H.M. Government.
In 1837 The Magistrates & Inhabitants of the Island "chosenby the suffrages of the people" after reciting that theyhad no Charter entitling them to meet under the designation ofMagistrates and Representatives resolved that their public Meetingsshould be thereafter designated meetings of the Justices and Vestry.At this time the position of affairs was again brought under thenotice of this Department and it was then in contemplation toapply to Parliament for an Act to enable His Majesty in Councilto provide for the judicial and administrative government of theCaymans -
(Notes)
2.23. CO 137/365 Governor Darling's despatch of the 24 March1862
2.24. CO 137/367 Colonial Office's Law Officer's letter to theAttorney General and the Solicitor General and others, 18th November1862.
2.25. But cf. the view expressed by the Custos, Magistrates andother inhabitants in the Petition to the House of Commons receivedin Britain in early 1838 (CO 137/226) "That this Island notbeing connected with Jamaica by legal enactments was never influencedor regulated by their laws but the inhabitants being unnoticedand left entirely to their own resources became a law unto themselves..."
The Colonial Attorney General's view wasprobably formed by the statement made by Edward Corbet in hisreport to Governor Nugent in June 1802 after his tour of the Caymanas.Corbet wrote:- "The only Laws or regulations in force theyconsider to be those of Jamaica as far as they are acquaintedwith them. ...
The Magistrates are understood to have the same power as thosein this island, but when any new measure is to be adopted it isgenerally submitted by them to the consideration of the inhabitantsat large." - Our Islands' Past Volume 1, pub. Cayman IslandsNational Archive/Cayman Free Press, page 7.
In Long's "History of Jamaica"(1774) in a section on "The Caymanas" Long writes, "Althoughthe island is an appendage of Jamaica ... the people upon it havenever been an object of the legislature of [Jamaica]; they havea Chief or Governor of their own choosing; and regulations oftheir own framing; they have some Justices of the Peace amongthem, appointed by commission from the Governor of Jamaica; andlive very happily with scarcely any form of civil government."George S.S. Hirst, Notes on the History of the Cayman Islands,p. 395.
2.26 Until the last few years this meeting (the 5th December 1831meeting at St. James's) was publicly stated to have been in Jamaica,with the assumption usually that "St. James's" was theJamaican parish of St. James, though I even heard it being taughtat a JP's meeting that "St. James's" referred to theSpanish Town Cathedral of St. Jago de la Vega.
Unfortunately Davies too erroneously statesthat "The Assembly [of Justices and Vestry of the Caymanislands] was established pursuant to a meeting held in the Parishof St. James,Jamaica in December 1831" (Davies p. 52). Theinsuperable logistical problem of holding a landmark public meetingin Jamaica followed by a consequential election five days laterin Grand Cayman was not considered.
I believe I am among the first to have corrected this publicly(in a television interview on the 29th June 1993), stating thatthe meeting was held in what is believed to be the oldest survivingbuilding in the Cayman Islands, St. James', Pedro Point (popularlyknown as Pedro Castle).