the "Jamaica Committee" and included liberal thinkers like John Bright, Charles Buxton, Peter Alfred Taylor, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Hughes, Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley and Goldwin Smith. Judgment Exceptionally the case was heard by a bench of six judges. Willes J gave the decision of the court. Curiously much of the case was dedicated not to the double actionability rule for which it would later be cited, but to argument upon whether (i) a law which was retrospective in nature was repugnant to natural justice, and (ii) whether the law was defective as a matter of procedure as the Governor had passed a statute into law in respect of which he had a direct conflict of interest. The findings on double actionability are relegated to a few short passages near the end. The Court held that Eyre could not be sued for his conduct in Jamaica. In order to bring an action the claimant must satisfy two requirements. First, the alleged conduct must "be of such a character that it would have been actionable if it had been committed" in the local jurisdiction. Second, "the act must not have been justifiable by the law of the place where it was done." That is, it must be non-justifiable at the lex loci actus. Due to the Act that Eyre passed just before leaving, the act was found to be justifiable by the law of Jamaica and thus could not be actionable in England. Significance One of the especially contentious parts of Eyre's conduct was the fact that the law he enacted was meant to cover all acts he had already done, making de facto powers de jure. There is a presumption in English law against retrospective effect and Willes J, who gave the judgment, noted that "The court will not ascribe retrospective force to new laws affecting rights unless by express words or necessary implication that such was the intention of the legislature". It was held in that case that Eyre's intention was clear. The double actionability rule has now largely been abrogated in English law pursuant to the Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995, although it still applies to defamation claims. But the case remains good law in a number of other common law jurisdictions. See also Boys v Chaplin [1971] AC 356 Colin Blackburn, Baron Blackburn Notes 1870 in case law 1870 in British law English conflict of