24th March 2025
On 18 March 2025, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) heard an appeal in the case of Kattina Anglin v Governor of the Cayman Islands & Colours Caribbean. The appeal raises the question of whether the Governor of the Cayman Islands had the power (by reason of sections 55 and 81 of the Cayman Islands’ Constitution) to enact the Civil Partnership Act 2020 (the CPA), after the Cayman Islands’ Legislative Assembly had failed to do so.
Alex Potts KC and Anna Hoffmann act for the sole intervenor, Colours Caribbean, an advocacy group that represents the interests of the LGBTQI+ community in the Cayman Islands and the wider Caribbean region.
The enactment of the CPA by the Governor established the rights of all couples (including same-sex couples) to enter into civil partnerships recognised under Cayman Islands law. The CPA was enacted against the background of a longstanding failure by the governments and public authorities of both the Cayman Islands and the UK to provide same-sex couples in the Cayman Islands, and their children, with legal protection for their relationships of functional equivalence to marriage, as recognised by the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal in The Deputy Registrar of the Cayman Islands & Anor v Chantelle Day & Anor [2020] (1) CILR 99.
Both the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, and the Court of Appeal for the Cayman Islands, had held unanimously that the CPA had been lawfully enacted by the Governor, having regard to the legal submissions made on behalf of both the Governor and Colours Caribbean.
The JCPC has reserved judgment on the appeal for the time being.
Alex Potts KC and Anna Hoffmann acted pro bono for Colours Caribbean. More information about the case can be found here.
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