Sir Anthony Smellie sits with the JCPC

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was delighted to welcome Sir Anthony Smellie to London this morning, to take part in a week of hearing cases at the JCPC. Sir Anthony is the retired Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands, and currently sits on the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal. He was appointed to the Privy Council by HM The King in February 2025.

Sir Anthony Smellie is welcomed to the JCPC by (L) Registrar Celia Cave and (R) Chief Executive Vicky Fox

Speaking upon his arrival at the Supreme Court in Parliament Square this morning, Sir Anthony said:

“There has previously been a long tradition of judges from the Commonwealth, and in particular from the Caribbean, who were appointed to serve on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC). Among them, and of blessed memory, were Sir Hugh Wooding, the Rt Hon Telford Georges and Sir Edward Zacca. Thanks to the initiative of Lord Reed, arrangements have again been made for judges from those Commonwealth countries who still rely upon the JCPC as their final appellate court, to serve as judges of the JCPC. These are the arrangements under which Dame Janice Perriera and I have been appointed to serve. I am honoured and very pleased to be able to do so and hopefully to continue the tradition of participation by which judges from the Commonwealth are able to contribute to the development of the common law and the administration of justice at this, the highest judicial level, deliberating with colleagues who are among the most capable and respected judges of the world.”

The chairman of the JCPC Lord Reed has been working with the Ministry of Justice to enable judges from JCPC jurisdictions to sit on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. In 2024 Dame Janice M. Pereira, recently retired from the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, sat with the JCPC in London.

The appeals which Sir Anthony will hear between 26-29 January 2026 (with other Justices) can be found on the JCPC website. Members of the public are welcome to watch proceedings in court or livestreamed on the website.

Further information:

Sir Anthony Smellie KCMG KC was appointed as Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands in June 1998 and retired in 2022. Sir Anthony was admitted to practice as an attorney-at-law in Jamaica in 1977. In 1987 he was appointed Solicitor-General of the Cayman Islands and acted as Attorney General on several occasions. In August 1991 Sir Anthony was appointed as Queen’s Counsel. He was appointed as a judge of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands in February 1993, and as Chief Justice five years later. He was appointed as a judge of the Court of Appeal of Bermuda in March 2018. In December 2023, Sir Anthony was appointed to the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal. Sir Anthony is an Honorary Bencher of Grays Inn; an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (University of London); Patron of the Commonwealth Law Journal; a STEP Judge, a member of Insolvency Practitioners International and a member of the International Insolvency Institute.

The process to be invited to sit with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council first required an Order in Council to be made naming The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands as a Superior Court for the purposes of section 1(1) Judicial Committee Amendment Act 1895. Following this, His Majesty The King approved the appointment of Sir Anthony at a meeting of the Privy Council at Buckingham Palace.