NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is set to hear Captain Toby Smith’s Crown Land lease dispute this summer.
The appeal will be heard on July 20, 2026. Smith was granted leave to appeal by the Court of Appeal in 2024, despite the court dismissing his challenge in a majority ruling.
In February 2023, Chief Justice Ian Winder ruled that no binding lease agreement existed because the Crown Land lease was never executed by the Minister responsible at the time, former Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis. That decision was later upheld by the Court of Appeal.
However, the appellate court was divided. In a dissenting opinion, Court of Appeal President Sir Michael Barnett said he would have allowed the appeal, stating that “there was a concluded agreement between the appellant and the Government for the lease of the land in question.”
Captain Smith applied to lease 17 acres of Crown Land on Paradise Island back in 2012. The Bahamas Investment Authority approved the project in principle in 2018, recommending a reduced lease area of five acres, and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed later that year.
In January 2020, Smith received an “Approval for Crown Lease” letter enclosing a lease that set annual rent at $5,224 per acre. Although Smith signed and returned the lease for execution, it was never signed by the government. The following month, Smith sought clarification after learning that Royal Caribbean Cruise Line had expressed interest in the same parcel of land.
