ABSTRACT

I should preface this paper by saying that my experience in small jurisdictions is limited to the Cayman Islands and Gibraltar both of which are British Overseas Territories each with a population of about 30,000. However, some of the problems which I shall discuss in the paper affect judges who are posted to a small town within a large jurisdiction. My experience is that the Cayman Islands and Gibraltar are jurisdictions where judges are not subjected to any direct interference in relation to the cases before them. There are stresses and strains particularly in maintaining the appearance or perception of independence but there are none of the problems of direct interference such as I encountered in my previous jurisdiction of Kenya. I should add that, unless the context suggests otherwise, when I speak of ‘judges’ I include those professional judges who preside in a court of law whether they be called judges or magistrates.