Litigation 2025

Cayman ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sam Dawson, Peter Sherwood and Denis Olarou, Carey Olsen

1. General 1.1 General Characteristics of the Legal System The Cayman Islands is a common law jurisdic- tion. Litigation is primarily adversarial and is con- ducted through both written submissions and Sources of law include primary legislation passed by the Parliament of the Cayman Islands, sec- ondary legislation made on the basis of authority found in primary legislation, and residual com- mon law found in judicial precedent. The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Ter- ritory and, as such, the UK may, by Order in Council, extend certain laws to have effect in oral arguments. Sources of Law Where there is no binding Cayman Islands judi- cial precedent, decisions of the English courts, as well as decisions of the courts of other com- mon law jurisdictions, are persuasive. In practice, except in areas where there is a difference in the underlying legislation or public policy, it would be unusual for the Cayman Islands courts to take a different view of the common law than the UK Supreme Court. Decisions of the UK’s Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on appeals from the Cayman Islands courts are binding. As a consequence, there are extensive areas of substantive Cayman Islands law that are identi- cal or very similar to English law, especially in fundamental areas such as contract, tort, equita- ble principles, basic trust concepts, foundations of company law, and general concepts of corpo- rate insolvency. However, there are also numer- ous important areas where, notwithstanding the the Cayman Islands. Judicial Precedent

overall kinship of the two legal systems, sub- stantive Cayman Islands law differs materially from that of England, including, in particular, in certain specialist aspects of company and insol- vency law that have developed independently to help make the Cayman Islands a leading juris- diction for international financial services and investment funds. Procedure The Grand Court Rules, which govern the con- duct of most high-value litigation in the Cayman Islands, mirror closely the Rules of the Supreme Court that governed High Court litigation in Eng- land prior to the introduction there in 1999 of the Civil Procedure Rules. However, the Grand Court Rules also incorporate a statement of governing principles – the Overriding Objective – which is in some respects similar to the Overriding Objec- tive adopted in the English Civil Procedure Rules after 1999. Insolvency proceedings are governed by their own bespoke set of Companies Winding Up Rules, which displace most of the provisions of the Grand Court Rules. There are also separate rules for probate, matri- monial, personal bankruptcy, and small claims. 1.2 Court System First Instance Civil matters up to the value of KYD20,000 are heard by the Summary Court, which also hears certain other matters such as affiliation, main- tenance and domestic violence applications. However, the principal court of first instance for all civil matters is the Grand Court, which also hears appeals from the Summary Court and cer- tain quasi-judicial tribunals.

256 CHAMBERS.COM