Category: News

TBLS lecturers, Derek O’Brien and Rhian Minty, have recently had an article accepted by Public Law, the leading journal in its field in the UK. The title of the article is “The Challenges of Multi-layered Governance and the Fight for Same Sex Marriage in Bermuda and the Caribbean Overseas Territories”.

The article examines the two most recent judgments of the Bermudan and Cayman Courts of Appeal regarding the constitutionality of the prohibition on same sex marriage in each territory. The article adopts a contextual approach which takes account of the surrounding political, social and cultural forces that have informed the debate about the issue of same sex marriage in both jurisdictions. The article further considers the UK’s constitutional responsibility for the implementation of human rights norms in Bermuda and the Caribbean Overseas Territories. The article concludes by offering a critique of the UK Government’s response to the refusal of the governments of Bermuda and the Caribbean Overseas Territories to permit same sex marriage in their territories.

Further press information available from:

Derek O’Brien (Derek.O’Brien@gov.ky)

Rhian Minty (Rhian.Minty@gov.ky)

TBLS lecturer Marc Johnson’s article titled “Legislative Sovereignty: Moving from Jurisprudence Towards Metaphysics” has been published in “Jurisprudence: An International Journal of Legal and Political Thought”. TBLS students can access the online version through Taylor & Francis Online and HeinOnline via University of Liverpool. Publication in print is pending.

Abstract:
Legislative sovereignty is often discussed with one eye on the past and one eye on the procedural functions of law-making in the present. This limits the scope for a conceptual understanding of legislative sovereignty and hinders its theoretical progress. This article argues that legislative sovereignty contains within it the concept of an idol and that understanding the scope and impact of the idol of sovereignty is necessary for future development in this field. Theories from Kant, Nietzsche, von Mises and Derrida are used to offer a divergent critique of legislative sovereignty while the author calls for a move towards a nuanced view of legislative and Parliamentary Sovereignty to account for its idolism. The key factor preventing the development of a truly nuanced and reflective theory of sovereignty is the devotion to former idols which are inoperable and inconsistent with modern geopolitical, inter-state relationships. The author also argues that our knowledge of sovereignty is synthetic a priori and that development in this area can only be by reason, as knowledge derived experientially is subject to the Kantian Transcendental Idealism.

https://doi.org/10.1080/20403313.2020.1744990

In a special lecture given by Laura Panades, students at the Truman Bodden Law School got to grips with the causes and consequences of “Brexit”.

Brexit is a word used to describe “Britain’s Exit” from the European Union, a unique political and economic international organisation.

The European Union exists to promote free and fair trade across 28 different European countries and does special trade deals as a group with the rest of the world.

In a referendum held in June 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union by 52% compared to the 48% that voted to remain in the European Union. The two-year notice period was extended to 31 January 2020.

Panades’ lecture raised concerns about the uncertain impact Brexit will have on the Cayman Islands. She anticipated a generally negative effect on Cayman because of changing rules regarding financial aid, access to the EU’s financial markets and international trade.

Panades also explained how Brexit would affect local students who study EU law as a core final-year module in the Law School’s law degree programme.

The special Brexit lecture welcomed all TBLS students studying any of the three degrees the Law School offers: the undergraduate law degree, the Professional Practice Course and the International Finance postgraduate degree.

Students took part in engaging activities, recreating the 2016 referendum debate and discussing the results of the 12 December General Election.

Mitchell Davies, Law School Director, said:

“The high participation we saw from students attending this lecture shows how important it is for our students to keep on top of developing legal events.”

“Staff initiatives like this lecture are strongly encouraged as a sign of our commitment to providing quality legal education in the Cayman Islands.”

Laura Panades, LLM Course Leader, said:

“As the module leader for European Union law, students often ask how the subject affects them in the Cayman Islands. This lecture was a great opportunity to answer that question.”

“I look forward to exploring the topic further in future special lectures.”

FURTHER PRESS INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM

Laura Panades

laura.panades@gov.ky

Phone number 945 00 77 (ext. 229)