The descendants of a group of daring 18th Century mutineers made legal history last week, telling a New Zealand court that their ancestors' rebellion amounted to a declaration of independence. The claim was made by lawyers representing seven men from the remote Pacific island of Pitcairn.

Commentary on the Pitcairn sex trial and claims arising from it that the island is independent of British rule.

Pitcairn, the South Pacific home of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers, has never been British territory and is instead the world's smallest and most isolated independent nation, a court was told. Reported in the Daily Telegraph.