Rojas v. Berllaque and HM Attorney General for Gibraltar

All male juries in Gibraltar……. No more. On 10th November 2003 the Privy Council delivered judgment in the case of Rojas v. Berllaque and HM Attorney General for Gibraltar. This involved a challenge to a Gibraltar law providing that only males are required to be eligible for jury service in Gibraltar. Several members of Blackstone Chambers were involved in the case. David Pannick QC represented the claimant whilst Michael Beloff QC and Javan Herberg appeared for the Attorney General for Gibraltar.

The Privy Council divided 3-2 in the result, holding by the majority that although the law did not offend the “ordinary” requirement of impartiality contained in Article 6 of the ECHR (similar to section 8 of the Gibraltar Constitution), there was a wider principle of “representativeness” which was offended by the law. The case has a particular significance in being the first time that this wider principle of representativeness, derived from United States jurisprudence, has been recognised in the common law (or, indeed, under the European Convention).