The Cayman Islands: Paradoxes of Insularity in the Caribbean and Other British Overseas Territories

Abstract

The Cayman Islands has a population of 63,415 (Cayman Islands Government) and an area of 264 square kilometres, making it the world’s twentieth smallest nation or territory by geographical area and 35th smallest by population (United Nations Statistics Division). As a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, there exist many connections to other parts of the world that are geographical, legal and socio-political; yet the Cayman Islands and other such territories exhibit traits that may be described as insular or openly international. The British Overseas Territories amount to 14 distinct and effectively self-governing territories that are spread across the globe. Indeed, of the 50 remote islands gazetted by Schalansky (Atlas of remote Islands: Fifty Islands I have never set foot on and never will, Penguin Books, London, 2010), 20 of these islands share a heritage with the former British Empire and, for those with a population and operant legal system, they share the basic underpinning of the English common law [Eight are, or have been, part of a British Overseas Territory; 12 are part of a Commonwealth Nation with the UK monarch as the head of state (aside from Banaba Island in Kiribati which is a presidential republic but still a member of the Commonwealth of Nations)]. Whilst geographically remote, the British Overseas Territories share a direct connection with elements of supervisory governance (as did the now independent Commonwealth Nations) still exercisable by the UK’s Government in London, UK. This article will explore the provision of legal education, the diversity of the judiciary and the issues associated with jury size, juror selection and fair, impartial decision making in the Cayman Islands in order to explore the concepts of insularity, internal connectivity and remoteness in law for this particular British Overseas Territory (further references in the text, abbreviated as BOT).