Edward Alexander Bannister CMG KC (born 12 August 1942) is the former Commercial Court Judge 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 N ...

based in the

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

. He was appointed in 2009, and was the first ever person to hold the post.

Life

Bannister was born on 12 August 1942, the son of Edward Bannister and Antonina Bannister. He was educated at

St John's School, Leatherhead St John's School in Leatherhead, Surrey is a fully co-educational private school for pupils aged 11 to 18. The school offers day, weekly and flexible boarding for approximately 800 pupils. St John's was founded in 1851 to educate the sons of ...

and

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, University Museum a ...

. He became a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

practising in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he was regarded as one of the more able senior barristers. As counsel he appeared before the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

in . During his appointment Justice Bannister has handed down a number of decisions which have helped to reshape British Virgin Islands commercial law, including creating the jurisdiction for "Black Swan" orders and reformulating the basis for minority prejudice relief. Justice Bannister also heard the various first instance claims relating to the Bernie Madoff fraud claims in the British Virgin Islands. Justice Bannister is a relatively bold judge in terms of treatment of judicial precedent: :* In ''Zanotti v Interlog Finance Corp.'' he declined to follow the clear English common law rules set down in ''Exeter Football Club v Football Conference'' (although ''Exeter'' was later overturned in United Kingdom in ''Fulham Football Club (1987) Ltd v Richard''). :* In ''Re C (a bankrupt)'', Justice Bannister partially overturned his own previous ruling in ''Picard v Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC'' holding, with regret, that he now believed his earlier decision had been wrong in certain respects. :* In '' Nilon Limited v Royal Westminster Investments S.A.'' he once again declined to follow English Court of Appeal authority in ''Re Hoicrest Ltd'' and was again vindicated when the Privy Council adopted his approach and overruled ''Re Hoicrest''. Bannister retired from his post in 2015. He was appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG) in the

2017 Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours were awarded a ...

Offices

References

21st-century lawyers British Virgin Islands lawyers British Virgin Islands judges Living people People educated at St John's School, Leatherhead Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court justices Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George British judges of international courts and tribunals 1942 births 20th-century English lawyers {{BritishVirginIslands-bio-stub