Don and Maggie's Christmas Letter 2016

First, a memory from 1971, 45 years ago:

Maggie and Don 45 years ago, as students in London

2016 was a year of quiet semi-retirement, and doing just the things we want to do.  The year began for us by spending a much-anticipated 4-day weekend in the nearby Dutch territory of Statia with walking friends from Anguilla:  Mary Ann, Kathy, Viviane, and Sally.  Trans-Anguilla Airline provided a quick, efficient and inexpensive way to get there directly, and brought us back safely.  While in Statia, we explored the little town where Gay, President of the local archaeological association, gave us a magnificent historical tour.  We explored the fortress that guards the harbour, and looked out over the ruins of Admiral Rodney’s destruction of the island that had given the new US flag its first naval salute.  The ladies in the group did a lot of walking.  Don was housebound due to a crack in his forehead caused when he ran down a rocky hillside a couple of days before the trip and landed headfirst onto a boulder.  The evidence is just visible in the photo.

Don and the walking ladies

Don keeps fit by having the ladies take him on an assortment of vigorous walks, one of which resulted in the January cracked head.  On more normal walking trips, it is actually the dog which sets the pace, and we struggle to keep up with him, as is evident in the photo.

Clifford takes us for a walk on Wednesdays

Our Monday walk starts at the Red Cross Building at the top of Crocus Hill which has this wonderful sign advertising opening hours.  Don had to show it to you, just as he spends every moment of a first visit to a new restaurant proof-reading the menu looking for typos.

The Red Cross opening hours

Maggie’s school shares the same building with the Red Cross.  She continues to volunteer part-time at WISE (Workshop Initiative for Support in Education).  This occasionally involves a celebratory meal in with teaching friends in a nearby restaurant such as in this one, taken at DaVida’s in Crocus Bay:

Maggie at End of Term Celebratory Lunch for WISE

Welcome visitors to Anguilla during the early part of the year included Kathryn and Desmond Fosbery from Nevis and Maggie’s brother Mac and wife Erica from the UK.  Don enjoyed the opportunities for doing the tour-guide thing again for them.  He enjoys giving his personal explanation of why Anguilla is shaped like a slice of cake lying on its side, with the higher end to the north, and the lower end to the south.  He asserts knowledgeably that for hundreds of years, the locals have been slipping into Anguilla from St Maarten late at night by boat, landing stoves, fridges and even cars on the beaches out of sight of the Customs Department.  The constant pounding of this cargo being landed has caused the south coast to sink nearly to sea level.

While Mac and Erica were here, they got to observe the launch of the first edition of Don’s High School law textbooks.  The Governor, the Judge and lots of dignitaries said kind things, and all agreed the occasion was more of a eulogy than a launch.  Within twelve months he had completely revised the six texts, and earlier this month published a second edition.  He says he is finished with it now, and that he can go on to the large law library in the sky, with no need for any further send off.  We’ll see.

Book launch banner

Maggie’s sister Bridget and her Harry came all the way from France to visit just after Mac and Erica departed.  It was good to see them again, as we don’t know if the 30 tortoises, several peafowl, and four dogs will permit Maggie and Don to leave the house together again for any extended period of time.  Don claims his travelling days are over, but he is not renowned for his consistency.  Harry and Bridget got to join in one of the Anguilla National Trust walks as is evident below:

Bridget walking Captain’s Bay to Island Harbour

Don enjoys these walks as well, and tries to go to them monthly.  He is always finding things to do to keep himself usefully occupied, now that he is fully retired.

Don finding something useful and important to do on an ANT walk – pretending to be a moose

Easter saw the end of Don’s teaching career.  The High School now has a proper, full-time, law teacher, so he will only need to step in now and then when there is an emergency.  Both Vailisia and her students now and in the years to come will have the use of the textbooks, which hopefully will not be soon out of date.

Don also retired from the Legal Aid Clinic (which he called the Anguilla Legal Aid Service and Anguilla Legal Aid Clinic because he liked the acronyms).  He handed it over to a bright young lawyer who has willingly taken over the service, mainly the Wednesday visit to the prisoners in HMP.  Some of these have proven to be successful law students as they have found the textbooks and are making use of them.  The other twice-weekly legal aid clinic held at the Department of Social Development was mainly devoted to advising distraught mothers on how to bring up their delinquent young sons.  There seems to be no one as experienced in that area of bringing up children as Don was to be able to carry on the service, so they have not got a suitable replacement as yetJ

April saw Don being appointed to the Board of the Anguilla Financial Services Commission.  This is the body that licences professionals and companies that provide financial services, such as company managers, trust companies and offshore banks.  The Board meets only once a quarter, as there is a full complement of professional staff who do all the work.

May opened with Don attending court for a last appearance before a judge.  The occasion was the call to the bar of one of his first High School law students, Ojeda Vanterpool.  She is a brilliant young person, as are so many of the students who have passed through his hands he says (no thanks to him).

Don’s last appearance in court

May was also the month for the Anguilla Literary Festival, where Don took the opportunity once again to give his now familiar speech on Transparency, Integrity and Accountability.  He must have been invited to participate as a speaker because of the book launch for the textbooks earlier in the year, but he did not speak about them.  He finds constitutional issues much more interesting and relevant to discuss than High School textbooks.

Don looking for trouble at the Literary Festival cocktail party

June saw us both heading off to Cuba for our second visit in 18 months.  The occasion was the annual conference of the Association of Caribbean Historians, which Don loves to attend.  Twenty years ago it was an annual event for him.  But in recent years he has had to miss them due to his work with the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.  Now that those assignments are finished, he felt free to attend once again.  Maggie came along to enjoy the sights.

Maggie at Linares in Cuba

The papers on West Indian history that were presented were as riveting as usual  The only negative to the conference was the number of old acquaintances who have either passed on or become too frail to attend.  The social events and day excursions were a joy.

Maggie in Havana, going out to dinner in a fleet of old taxis

Maggie spent August in Europe visiting her sister Bridget in France, and her brothers Mac in Wales and ‘Flurry’ in Birmingham. 

Maggie at table in Brittany

She complained continuously about the cold, but enjoyed the break away from Don.  Don, meanwhile, was treated in her absence by the walking gang and friends to his 70th birthday party at Kathy’s house at Cedar Village.

 

Don's 70th birthday pie!

Don’s big trip in September was attending the OECS Bar Association’s 12th Annual Conference and Book Fair in St Lucia where he took advantage of important stuff he had learned about since he joined the Board of the Financial Services Commission.  There, he gave a talk on Financial Regulation issues affecting the Commonwealth Caribbean.

Don boring everyone with his talk at the OECS Bar Association meeting in St Lucia

In September 2015 the Anguilla Government asked Don once again to work with a committee to come up with revised proposals for a new Constitution for Anguilla and a new Elections Act.  Throughout the year, a small drafting committee worked on trying to put the various proposals that emerged from public consultations and an array of previous drafting and research into a form that, in their view, reflected the views and desires of the majority of Anguillians.  This exercise is now coming to an end, and early next year we hope to make our final presentation to government.  After that, it is up to the Anguilla and the British Governments what they will make of it.  Below is a shot of the drafting committee at work on the Elections Act:

The Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committee drafting committee

October was significant for the launch of the three Grenadian High School Law textbooks, co-authored by Don and Jasmin Redhead.  The real occasion was the Grenada Bar Association’s Law Week, which has become quite well-known throughout the region as one of the most dynamic and event-filled Law Weeks anywhere in the OECS.

Don and Jasmin at the Grenada book launch

Don and Jasmin piggy-backed the launch on the Grenada Bar Association’s Law Week.  Interestingly, the most controversial topic throughout the week’s events, including a radio talk-show and a High School debate, was that of gay marriage.  Apparently, some of pastors had been pontificating that the proposed amendments to the Grenada Constitution would encourage gay marriage.  So, needless to say, Don had to wade in with his opinion.  This resulted in a subsequent article he published in the local newspaper, much to the grief and annoyance of some.  That article did not cause as much gratifying offence as his earlier one on homophobia in Anguilla which the Anguillian Newspaper published in full in September.

October was also lit up by a visit from an old Guyanese, Abbey School, Mt St Benedict, Old Boy whom Don had not seen in 50 years.  Ronald Ferreira and his wife Carol together with two of their friends came to pay a visit to Anguilla and got in touch.  Ron found Don by way of Ladislao’s weekly circulars which Don posts for him on a Blog every week for the past 15 years.  We took them out to a couple of meals and gave them the guided tour.  We believe they are only the second Old Mount Boy ever to have visited us in Anguilla.  The first was Brian Goddard last year, and who returned again for a short business visit in November.

November saw Don’s sister Alix and her Brian, and their two kids and various friends and attachments spending a week in Anguilla.  The plan on our part had been to use their IT skills to get Ron Ferreira’s gift of a monitoring camera for our two front doors to work.  The partying was, however, so hectic that the camera still lies there inoperative.  Sorry, Ron, we think we need to await the visit of a 14-year old great-nephew or great-niece to be able to tap into an expert who can master the set-up for the camera.  We have found just the corner of the sitting room to place the camera from where it will monitor both the front sliding-door and the kitchen door, in the event of the inevitable home invasion for which all of us old people must prepare.

December saw Don making a new version of his by now quite probably boring speech on the need for Transparency, Integrity and Accountability in Government at a continuing legal education seminar in Anguilla.  The main speaker was the ever gracious, charming and super-intelligent former UWI Lecturer and Minister of Finance of Trinidad and Tobago, Karen Nunez-Teshiera, with whom Don was proud to share the platform.

Besides our personal news, the major national news was the demise of the two indigenous banks, National Bank of Anguilla (of which we owned 5% of the equity) and the Caribbean Commercial Bank.  Also gutted were their two offshore branches.  It seems that the Central Bank was very naughty while the two local banks were in its custodianship over the past three years.  In effect, the Central Bank extracted and removed all the US dollars from the local banks to NBA’s corresponding bank in New York, and hid them away from the US depositors.  The money did not belong to the local banks which the Central Bank had taken over, but to the offshore banks and their customers.  The receiver of the offshore branches is now mired in expensive litigation in New York and in Anguilla trying to retrieve the US$ depositors’ money.  Anyway, the bottom line is that one of Maggie’s major investments underlying her pension plan has now completely disappeared.  Explain to me again, how much is five percent of a billion dollar bank?

And, so, the year gradually plays itself out.  Christmas dinner will be a quiet affair with a few friends and family.  We hope that your year has not been too exciting, and that you are also, like us, contemplating how perfect it is to live in a place like the West Indies and not in some of the other less fortunate places that have made the news this year.  Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

18 December, 2016

Gay Marriage Judgment

An Imaginary Gay Rights Trial in the High Court of Anguilla

Matthias Charles v Attorney-General of Anguilla [2016 High Court.]

[1]     Judgment:  A few weeks ago I described a scenario which is a variation on a High School moot from Grenada.  I posed the question then, if, instead of this being a Grenadian scenario it was Anguillian one, and if this were an Anguillian case brought under the Anguilla Constitution, and if you were counsel arguing for one of the parties, what would your submissions likely be?  I promised then that after a decent interval to receive your submissions, I would deliver judgment.  Well, shame on you, no one offered any submissions.  So, I have had to do the research myself.  Here, then, is my “judgment”.

The Facts

[2]     Matthias Charles was a male Anguillian who emigrated to Canada and took out Canadian citizenship.  Greyson Williams is also a male Anguillian who similarly lived in Canada.  Matthias and Greyson were married in Canada in August 2005, shortly after same-sex marriages were legalised there.  Subsequently, they frequently visited Anguilla, and jointly purchased property in here.

[3]     Greyson died in Canada in January 2016, and at his request was buried in Anguilla next to his parents in the St Mary’s Anglican Church Cemetery in The Valley.

[4]     Matthias Charles applied to the Registry for a Grant of Letters of Administration to Greyson’s estate.  He exhibited a copy of his marriage certificate evidencing his marriage to Greyson.  The Registrar refused to process the application on the basis that marriage in Anguilla is only recognised as between a man and a woman.

[5]     Matthias filed a Constitutional Motion claiming that the Registrar’s decision violates section 13(2) of the 1982 Constitution of Anguilla.  He claims that he is being treated in a discriminatory manner based on his sex.  He seeks a declaration that the Registrar’s decision violates section 13(2) of the Constitution.

The Issue

[6]     The first issue argued by the parties was whether the limitation in the Marriage Act of the right to marry to a man and a woman prevents a same-sex surviving spouse from applying for a Grant of Letters of Administration in Anguilla.

[7]     The second issue argued was, if the limitation (in the Marriage Act) of marriage to a man and a woman does prevent such an application, is the Marriage Act inconsistent with section 13(2) of the Anguilla Constitution 1982, and in need of amendment to preserve it.

[8]     The third issue, which the court on its own initiative considers applicable, is whether these facts merited a constitutional motion.

The Constitution

[9]     Matthias relies on section 13 which prohibits any law which is discriminatory. It reads:

Protection from discrimination on the grounds of race, etc.

13.-(1) Subject to the provisions of subsections (4), (5) and (7) of this section, no law shall make any provision that is discriminatory either of itself or in its effect.

(2) Subject to the provisions of subsections (6), (7) and (8) of this section, no person shall be treated in a discriminatory manner by any person acting by virtue of any written law or in the performance of the functions of any public office or any public authority.

(3) In this section, the expression "discriminatory" means affording different treatment to different persons attributable wholly or mainly to their respective descriptions by race, place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed or sex whereby persons of one such description are subjected to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of another such description are not made subject or are accorded privileges or advantages which are not accorded to persons of another such description.

The Cases

[10]   This is the first gay-rights case to be brought in a court of the Eastern Caribbean.  There is no precedent or guidance which can be found from our court to assist us in deciding what is right in this case.  However, there are at least three leading authorities from the Western Caribbean relevant to the question whether a law that criminalises homosexuality or homosexual acts in private between consenting adults, or that discriminates against the marriage of two persons of the same sex, is constitutional.  These are:

Leonardo Raznovich v Attorney-General of the Cayman islands delivered by the Immigration Appeals Tribunal on 20 July 2016; and

Caleb Orozco v A-G of Belize [No 668 of 2010], delivered by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin on 10 August 2016; and

Maurice Tomlinson v The State of Belize [2016 CCJ 1], a judgment of the Caribbean Court of Justice.

[11]   Leonardo Raznovich, was a professor at the Truman Bodden Law School.  He organized a series of public lectures on human rights, including rights for homosexuals.  Subsequently, he was told that his contract with the college was not being renewed.  With the loss of his employment, the Immigration Department told him he must leave the country.

[12]   His British spouse of 16 years was also a lawyer.  He held a work permit to work for a law firm in the Cayman Islands.  Mr Raznovich’s spouse submitted an application to have Mr. Raznovich listed as a dependent on his work permit, so that he could stay in the Cayman Islands.  They were married in 2012 in Mr Raznovich’s home country of Argentina, where same-sex marriages are legal.

[13]   The Immigration Board indicated it did not have the power to accommodate the request, which was routinely approved for married couples of a different sex.  The lecturer faced the prospect of being deported.

[14]   Mr. Raznovich and his partner appealed the decision on the grounds that the differing treatment of same-sex couples is discriminatory and contrary to the Cayman Islands Constitution.

[15]   The Immigration Appeals Tribunal (IAT) heard the case.  On 22 July 2016, it found that the Cayman Islands Constitution leaves no room to discriminate against same-sex married couples.  It granted Mr Raznovich’s application to be added to his spouse’s work permit as a dependent.  The Cayman Islands Government decided that there was no hope of success in filing an appeal.  It made a public announcement to that effect, thus ensuring that this was a final decision binding on the Immigration Department.

[16]   In the Caleb Orozco case from Belize, Mr Orozco was a Belizian gay rights activist.  He brought an action in the Belize High Court for a declaration that the section 53 of the Criminal Code which provided that “Every person who has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any person or animal shall be liable to imprisonment for ten years” contravenes his constitutional rights under sections 3, 6 and 14 of the Belize Constitution and is accordingly null and void and of no effect to the extent that it applies to carnal intercourse between persons.

[17]   Mr Orozco claimed that he was a homosexual male and a health educator.  He testified about his experiences up to the age of 15 years when he accepted that he was a homosexual.  He spoke of being aware from the age of three years that he was regarded as different from other boys and his non-tradition traits, interests and behaviour were the subject of ridicule.  Conflict arose between him and his father and siblings.  At school, he was taunted and called disparaging names.  He was the object of constant harassment mocking and stigmatisation which cause him to be angry and very depressed as a teenager.  As an openly gay man in Belize he was the victim of violence, hostility and discrimination.  He described four incidents involving vulgar abuse and menacing threats of violence.

[18]   Additionally, there was evidence that many gay men shunned being tested for HIV/AIDS because of the stigma and discrimination against gay men in the society which was reinforced by criminalisation of sex between consenting adult men.

[19]   At their own request, the Roman Catholic Church of Belize, the Belize Church of England, and the Belize Evangelical Association of Churches were joined to the action as Interested Parties.  They gave evidence and made legal arguments through counsel seeking to counter the claims of Mr Orozco.

[20]   After hearing argument on behalf of the parties, Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin ruled that Mr Orozco had been discriminated against on the basis of his sexual orientation by virtue of section 16(1) and (3) of the Belize Constitution, and that there was an ongoing violation of his right under section 6(1) to equality before the law and the equal protection of the law without discrimination.  He found that the constitutional prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sex extends to one’s sexual preference.  He concluded that section 53 contravened sections 3, 6 and 16 of the Belize Constitution to the extent that it applied to carnal intercourse against the order of nature between persons.  He ordered the government to pay his legal costs.  The Belize government has indicated it has no intention of appealing Chief Justice Benjamin’s judgment.  This judgment is therefore conclusive of the legal position in Belize.

[21]   I also considered the 10 June 2016 judgment of the Caribbean Court of Justice in the gay rights Maurice Tomlinson case, but it does not appear to assist with any of the issues raised in this dispute.

[22]   How do the first two cases apply to Anguilla?  It may be argued that neither of these decisions is binding on us, as they are foreign judgments.  But as C-J Benjamin put it at paragraph [59] of his judgment,

In construing the human rights provisions of the Constitution in these proceedings, I have taken the liberty of examining the jurisprudence of international bodies as an aid to interpretation.  It cannot now be gainsaid that the streams of domestic law and international law ought to flow in the same direction in establishing the fundamental norms applicable to the rights conferred by the Constitution. 

[23]   The Courts of the Eastern Caribbean similarly permit foreign judgments to be produced for the assistance of the Court.  So, while neither of these judgments is binding on the administrative tribunals and courts of Anguilla, it is likely that they will be found to be of strong persuasive authority.  They both relied on constitutional provisions that are similar to those in the Anguillian Constitution.  The fundamental rights sections of the Belize Constitution may be said to be more developed than Anguila’s in that it contains sections specifically protecting Belizians’ rights to privacy, human dignity, as well as to equality of the sexes and freedom from discrimination.  But, the Anguillian discrimination section on which Greyson relies is similar to both the Belize and the Cayman Islands sections of their Constitutions.

Application of the law

[24]   One may well query whether Matthias has any need to apply for Letters of Administration.  If all Matthias and Greyson’s property in Anguilla is owned jointly by them, then, by the “Law of Survivorship”, on Greyson’s death all Greyson’s property will continue to be owned in its entirety by Matthias.  No Grant of Letters of Administration is needed by Matthias.  The Grant will not give him anything he does not already own by the Law of Survivorship.

[25]   There is perhaps an even more important procedural point that stands in the way of Matthias making a claim of this sort.  Assuming there was some need for Matthias to apply for Letters of Administration, which there is not, a refusal by a Registrar to process an application for Letters of Administration is not final.  Under the non-contentious probate rules, when a Registrar wrongfully refuses to process an Application for a Grant of Letters of Administration, the law provides a right of appeal to the Judge.  From the facts before us, it appears that Matthias has not exercised his right of appeal to the Judge.  It may well be considered by a court to be a waste of court time to hear argument, and to rule on this constitutional motion, before Matthias has exercised his right of appeal to the Judge and argued the merits of his case there.

[26]   Entirely as an aside, as it is not properly before me for decision, I accept that the Marriage Act of Anguilla permits marriage in Anguilla only between a man and a woman.  The consequence of that is that, if two men applied in Anguilla to be married to each other, such a marriage would be in breach of the provisions of the Marriage Act, unless the Marriage Act itself was declared by a Court to be unconstitutional.

[27]   There is no reason to believe that the Courts of Anguilla would come to a different conclusion to the Cayman and Belize courts if an anti-discrimination case were to be brought today challenging the legality of the Marriage Act, and obliging the governor to issue a marriage licence and obliging marriage officers to perform gay marriages without any further amendment to the Constitution of Anguilla.

[28]   In other words, it may well be open to a gay couple one day to claim that the Marriage Act of Anguilla contravenes section 13 of the Constitution of Anguilla which guarantees their right to equal treatment under the law.  This imaginary gay couple may well seek a declaration that it is illegal for a Marriage Officer in Anguilla to refuse to marry them.  A High Court in Anguilla may well find itself guided by the Raznovich case and the Orozco case.  The Court may proceed to find the provision in the Marriage Act unconstitutional.  It may even award damages against any Governor who refused to issue a marriage licence.  It might also award damages against any marriage officer who refused to conduct their marriage.  However, that is not the question before us today.  There is no constitutional challenge to the Marriage Act.  The only challenge is to the Registrar’s refusal to grant Letters of Administration.

Conclusion

[29]   In conclusion, and for the reasons given above, I would dismiss the Constitutional Motion before the court on the ground that the allegedly wrongful act of the Registrar in refusing to process the Application for Letters of Administration was subject to an appeal to the High Court Judge which appeal was not taken up.  It is an abuse of the constitutional motion process for this process to be used as a substitute for the proper process of appeal to the judge.  As I have not heard any argument on the merits of an appeal to the judge against the decision of the Registrar, I decline to order the Registrar to process the Application for Letters of Administration.  Matthias Charles must apply to the judge to overrule the Registrar’s refusal to deal with his application.

[30]   The Attorney-General has not asked for costs.  If he had asked for costs, I might be minded to make an order for costs to be paid personally by counsel for the Claimant, for having wasted the court’s time on this constitutional motion.  As it is, the motion is dismissed with no order as to costs.

Revised 5 May 2017 to reflect the same-sex judgment of the High Court in Bermuda, an account of which can be read here: http://www.royalgazette.com/news/article/20170505/landmark-same-sex-ruling