Existing comment:
Early Government:
"The inhabitants may truly be said to live in a state of nature. Whatever differences arise among them are generally submitted to the arbitration of neighbours, but if the Parties do not choose to stand by the Award... they finally determine the matter by coming to blows, and the victor gains the cause."
-- George Gould, 1773
In theory, the Cayman Islands were subject to the laws of Jamaica. In reality, Caymanian magistrates, who were appointed by the Governor of Jamaica from 1798 onwards, were not schooled in that law. To maintain order, they established local laws ratified by the "united voice" of the "leading inhabitants." This arrangement could work while the population was small, but with the doubling of the population between 1802 and 1831, to about 2,000, civil order was in jeopardy and it became clear the ordinary people needed a voice. And so it was agreed that local representatives would be elected in a new assembly, to work with the appointed magistrates.
Six weeks before the momentous decision to form an elected assembly, the appointed magistrates of Grand Cayman signed this letter -- outlining many if [sic] their frustrations -- and delivered it to the Governor of Jamaica. |