Sir Lascelles Lister Robotham (22 October 1923 – 19 February 1996) was a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n lawyer and judge who worked in a number of Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean. He was Chief Justice of the

Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) is a superior court of record for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), including six independent states: Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Ne ...

from 1984 until his retirement in 1991.

Early life

Robotham was educated in law in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. In 1955, he was called to the Bar of

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

at Lincoln's Inn. He returned to Jamaica and worked as a Crown lawyer from 1955 to 1962. He became a magistrate in the Jamaican courts in 1962, and was promoted to the position of High Court Judge 1964. In 1976, he became a member of the Jamaican Court of Appeal. In 1979, Robotham left Jamaica after being appointed to be a High Court Judge of the

by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission of the

Caribbean Community The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organization that is a political and economic union of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) throughout the Caribbean. They have primary objectives to promote econo ...

. His first assignment was to reside in and hear cases from Antigua and Barbuda. He became a Justice of Appeal of the Court in 1982, and in 1984 he became the Chief Justice. As Chief Justice, Robotham was the supreme judicial officer of the courts of

Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The terr ...

, Antigua and Barbuda, the

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = " Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Bri ...

, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat,

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain ...

, Saint Lucia, and

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea w ...

. Robotham was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987. He retired in 1991, and was succeeded as Chief Justice by Vincent Floissac. After his retirement from the Caribbean court, he was appointed to be a judge on the Court of Appeal of Belize.

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