Cayman Islands Act 1863

Cayman Islands Act 1863

[26 & 27-Vict., c. 31]

Whereas certain magistrates and other inhabitants of the Island of Grand Cayman have from time to lime, in Vestry or otherwise, Passed or assumed to pass certain Acts or resolutions for the Government of the Cayman Islands: And whereas doubts are entertained whether such Acts or resolutions are o any effect in the said Islands, and by what authority laws may be made for the government of the same, and what laws are actually in force therein; and it is expedient that such doubts should be set at rest: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this Present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

[Royal Assent June 22, 1863]

1 . All Acts or resolutions heretofore passed or purporting to have been passed at any meeting of the magistrates or representatives, or of the justices and Vestry, or of the Vestry of the Island of Grand Cayman, shall, so soon as a fair copy of the same shall have been signed by the Governor of Jamaica in verification thereof, be and be deemed to have been valid and effectual for all purposes whatever within the said Cayman Islands, from the date at which the same shall purport to have been passed.

2. It shall be competent to the Legislature of Jamaica to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the said Islands, and by such laws to alter or repeal all or any of the aforesaid Acts or resolutions ; and also to give to the justices and Vestry, or other body or bodies of persons in the said Islands, such power of making laws or regulations for local purposes within the same, as to the said Legislature may seem fit.

3. Until it shall be otherwise provided by the said Legislature, it shall be lawful for the said justices and Vestry, in their accustomed manner, or in such other manner as shall be prescribed in writing under the hand and Seal of the Governor of Jamaica, to make such regulations as to them shall seem fit for the following purposes that is to say-

Respecting their own constitution and procedure ; respecting the powers and duties of public officers ; and especially respecting the powers, functions, and procedure of justices of the peace and officers acting under their authority; and respecting appeals from the decisions of such justices to the Supreme Court of Jamaica ;

Respecting the establishment, maintenance, discipline and powers of the police;

Respecting the management, occupation and disposal of the public property or common land ;

Respecting the abatement of nuisances, the construction of works of public utility, the making of roads, the cleansing of streets and houses, and other matters affecting the health or convenience of the community ;

Respecting the custody of offenders and accused persons respecting the imposition and collection of rates and taxes, and

Respecting the custody and expenditure of the proceeds thereof : Provided always, that no justice of the peace shall by virtue of any such regulation try any suit or action, without the consent of the parties thereto, in which the value of the matter in dispute shall exceed £100, nor take cognisance of any capital crime, nor sentence any offender to the payment of a fine of more than £50, or to imprisonment for a longer term than 12 months.

No regulation made by such justices and Vestry or other legislative authority in the said Islands shall take effect until the same shall have been signed by the Officer administering the Government of Jamaica in token of his assent thereto ; and every such regulation may be disallowed by Her Majesty by Order in Council or through one of her Principal Secretaries of State, and shall cease to be of any effect so soon as the disallowance thereof shall be pro- claimed within the said Islands.

Except as they may be inconsistent with the aforesaid Acts or resolutions, and subject to any such alterations as may be made by or by authority of the aforesaid, Legislature of Jamaica, and to such regulations as may from time to time be made under authority of this Act, the laws now in force in Jamaica shall from the date of this Act be deemed to be in force in the said Islands, so far as the same shall be applicable to the circumstances thereof.

6. The Officer administering the Government of Jamaica shall have, as far as may be, the same powers and authorities in respect of the said Islands as if the same had been part of the Island of Jamaica.

7. The Supreme Court of Jamaica, and all officers thereof, shall have and exercise, in respect to suits, actions, questions or prosecutions arising in the said Islands which may not be lawfully triable by any authority therein, or which, in conformity with any law or regulation in force therein, may be referred for the decision of the said Court, the same jurisdiction and power as if the same Islands were part of the Island of Jamaica.

8. It shall be lawful for the Supreme Court to entertain appeals from the decisions of a justice or justices of the peace in the said Islands, within such limits as may be prescribed by any law or regulation in force in the said Islands; and by rule of court from time to time to make such special provision as the said Court may think requisite, for the proper hearing and determination of such suits, actions, prosecutions and appeals as aforesaid: provided that no such rule shall take effect until it shall have been signed by the Officer administering the Government of Jamaica in token of his approval thereof.

ss.2, 6-8 repealed. The Islands no longer fall under the jurisdiction of Jamaica. They are now a separate Crown Colony.