Rojas v. Berllaque (A-G for Gibraltar Intervening)
Gibraltar Privy Council
15 BHRC 404 (2003)
- Written by Caitlinn Raimo, JD
Facts
Pilar Rojas (plaintiff) and Brian Berllaque (defendant) lived together. Rojas claimed that Berllaque subjected her to physical violence daily for 18 months and locked her out of their home. She sought damages for assault and false imprisonment. Rojas’s false-imprisonment claim entitled Rojas to a jury trial. At that time in Gibraltar, juries were chosen at random from a jury list. In practice, juries were all-male because jury service was compulsory for adult men but voluntary for adult women. Rojas sought a jury drawn from a list that contained an equal number of men’s and women’s names and argued that the then-current system was discriminatory and ran afoul of the Constitution of Gibraltar (the constitution), which guaranteed the right to a fair trial. The attorney general intervened, contending that there was no basis to believe that a jury composed of nine men could not afford a fair trial.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Nicholls, L.)
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