Editor’s note: This article is an update to the Law of the Pacific Islands: A Guide to Web Based Resources, (published October 16, 2000 and April 15, 2002).
American Samoa; Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands; Cook Islands; Easter Island; Federated States of Micronesia; Fiji; French Polynesia; Guam; Hawaii; Kiribati; Marshall Islands; Midway Is.; Nauru; New Caledonia; Niue; Norfolk Island; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Pitcairn Is.; Samoa; Solomon Is.; Tokelau; Tonga; Tuvalu; Vanuatu; Wallis and Futuna.
4. Academic Sites & Research Centres
5. Related Sites, not Law Specific
This Resource guide deals with internet sites providing Caselaw, Legislation and Government home pages for the Pacific Island region. There are also links to several relevant journals, and to academic sites providing dedicated Pacific Law web pages, or Centres dealing with Pacific Law.
There are several issues to be aware of when using the internet to locate Pacific law sites.
- Many sites bundle Pacific into an area called “Asia Pacific”. This often includes countries bordering the Pacific on the eastern side, but in many instances excludes most Pacific islands.
- The internet connections to most countries in the Pacific are still fairly slow by standards in the US, Australia and Europe. It can take some time for the data to appear on the screen; patience is needed.
The countries of the Pacific Rim as well as the countries of Asia which are proximate to the Pacific are excluded from this Guide. Thus Australia and New Zealand for which there are excellent guides already on LLRX, are not included.
Locations
Most of the countries covered are marked on a very good map provided by a site called Political Resources on the Net.
2. Alphabetical List of Countries and Sites
Background
The Pacific Islands, are scattered across a quarter of the earth’s surface. Of the thirty million square kilometres, 98% is ocean, and of 7,500 islands, only 500 are inhabited.
The Pacific Islands are separated into the three sub-regions of Melanesia (West), Polynesia (South-East) and Micronesia (North), based on their ethnic, linguistic and cultural differences.
Pacific Islanders speak nearly a quarter of the world’s languages, and most countries were formerly administered by several imperial powers. The political structures vary from formal colonial dependencies through to ‘associated state” and to states with full political independence.
There is great diversity of culture, environment and demographic conditions, yet Island governments share a sense of common destiny, which is expressed in technical cooperation and political collaboration through several regional organisations including the South Pacific Forum, the Pacific Community, and the University of the South Pacific.
All countries in the region except Tokelau have written consititutions. Some laws of England, New Zealand, Australia, France and the United States still have application in the Pacific. To provide for independence or self-government written constitutions were enacted and stated to be the supreme law. At independence existing laws were not totally rejected. Some legislation in England (and in some cases former colonies of Australia and New Zealand) at a particular date is still in force. Common law and equity, and some legislation made by the country concerned before independence still prevails. There is an increasing tendancy to incorporate customary law and in some countries have legislated for it to be applied in court. For further information see ‘Introduction to researching South Pacific Law‘, by Peter Murgatroyd and ‘Introduction to South Pacific Law’, by Jennifer Corrin Care, Tess Newton and Don Paterson (Cavendish, London 1999).
One of the largest collections of legal information for the Pacific Island Countires is held at the University of the South Pacific Law Library at the Emalus Campus in Vanuatu. With the assistance of the Australiasian Legal Information Institute, AustLII the University established the Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute, PacLII. PacLII publishes legislation, case law and other documents freely on the Internet for 20 Pacific Island Countires.
Information and online resources for individual countries
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Country |
Political Status / Associatied Country (where applicable) |
Legislation and Case Law |
Government |
Other |
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Self-Governing Territory / United States of America |
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Self-Governing Territory in Political Union / United States of America |
Supreme Court Opinions June 1996- |
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Self Governing in free association / New Zealand |
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Self-Governing Territory / Chile |
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Free Association / United States of America |
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Independent State |
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Self-Governing Overseas Territory / France |
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Self-Governing Territory / United States of America |
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State, Self-Governing / United States of America |
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Independent State |
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Free Association / United States of America |
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Territory / United States of America |
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Independent State |
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Self-Governing Overseas Territory / France |
Overview |
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Self-Governing Free Association / New Zealand |
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Self-Governing Territory / Australia |
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Free Association / United States of America |
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Independent State |
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Self-Governing Territory / |
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Constitutional Monarchy |
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Independent State |
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Self-Governing Territory / New Zealand |
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Constitutional Monarchy |
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Independent State |
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Self-Governing Territory / France |
3. Journals, Treaties, Conventions, Specialised Legislation
Journals
- Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal, 1999+
William S. Richardson School of Law , University of Hawaii - Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal, 1990+
University of Washington School of Law - Journal of South Pacific Law, 1999+
University of the South Pacific - Pacific Islands Report
University of Hawaii. This excellent news site, developed and maintained by the Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center at the Center for Pacific Islands Studies of the University of Hawai’ is an timely and useful resource for current Pacific Island information. - Melanesian Law Journal
- Victoria University of Wellington Law Review
- Pacific Law Journals Index
University of the South Pacific
International Treaties, Conventions
Specialised Legislation
Forum Fisheries Agency
The South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) was established in 1979 under a Convention signed by 12 Forum member countries. The Convention reflects the common concern of member nations on matters of conservation, optimum utilization and coastal states sovereign rights over the region’s living marine resources. Fish legislation can be found for several member countries at http://www.ffa.int/node/14.
4. Academic Sites & Research Centres
- University of the South Pacific School of Law
The School of Law provides access from a number of pages to legal information for the Pacific. - The Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS)
This centre is at ANU (Australian National University, Canberra) and is regarded as a pre-eminent centre for research and postgraduate training on the Asia-Pacific region. Associated with this centre is The Centre for the Contemporary Pacific. - Centre for Asian and Pacific Law (CAPLUS), University of Sydney
Based at the University of Sydney, the aims of the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law include promoting knowledge in and understanding of the laws, legal systems, constitutions, legal culture and business laws of the countries of Asia and the Pacific. There is a greater emphasis on Asia than on the Pacific. - Centre for Asia/Pacific Law and Business (CAPLAB)
This Centre provides and coordinates Asia/Pacific business and law teaching and research in the Faculty of Commerce and Administration, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ. - The Asia Pacific Intellectual Property Law Institute, Murdoch University
This Institute was established in 1995 as a regional focus for research, teaching, training and advice on intellectual property law and policy and on the national, regional and global protection of intellectual property rights. It brings together some of the finest scholars and practitioners in the intellectual property field in the Asia Pacific region. - Monash University Law Library Pacific Law Resource Unit
Objectives of the Unit are:
- To maintain an up-to-date collection of the law, law-related literature and legal information of and concerning the states and territories of the Pacific Island region.
- To encourage the study, wider understanding and deeper knowledge of the laws of the peoples of the Pacific Islands and their region.
- To facilitate legal research relevant to the Pacific Island region by studies carried out in and from Monash University and in cooperation with governments, courts, legal professions, institutions for legal education and training, and law-related agencies in the region.
- To provide legal information services for Australia and the Pacific Islands region.
- Asian Pacific Research Institute
Ocean Studies at APRI are led by Tony Angelo who combines this with strong interests in Asia and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. He teaches Pacific Legal Studies at Victoria University of Wellington and is among other things is the Constitutional Adviser to the Government of Niue and Legal Adviser to the Government of Tokelau. - Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury
This New Zealand based Centre has the following mission: The mission of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies is to promote and advance scholarship and understanding of the Pacific region, including Aotearoa New Zealand, its people, societies and cultures; histories; arts; politics; environment and resources; developments and future. The page includes a list of Pacific related publications. - UNSW Centre for South Pacific Studies
Features include and Online Bibliography of Pacific Studies, the site for the Australia-Papua New Guinea Friendship Association. The Centre for South Pacific Studies was established in 1987 to collect, collate and distribute information from a diversity of disciplines, in printed and electronic form, about the peoples and places of the Pacific islands. - University of Waikato Pacific Law Sites
This collection of links includes a list of primary and secondary legal material relating to Pacific Island nations which is held in major New Zealand law libraries.
5. Related Sites — Not Law Specific
- The South Pacific Forum
The South Pacific Forum represents Heads of Government of all the independent and self-governing Pacific Island countries, Australia and New Zealand. Since 1971 it has provided member nations with the opportunity to express their joint political views and to cooperate in areas of political and economic concern. Members are: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The Forum meets each year at Head of Government level. - The South Pacific Community
This is the page of the Secretariat of the South Pacific Community. An international organisation serving the Pacific region, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community is the premier technical and development organisation of the Pacific. It is the only bilingual (English/French) regional organisation covering all 22 countries and territories of the Pacific. - The Pacific Forum
A collection of links which include cultural and general links. Not an official site. - The Agricultural Development in the American Pacific Project
This site links to Pacific Land Grants Schools, as well as Agricultural schools in the Pacific. It provides a history of the project, and a list of Pacific Island experts. - The Small Island Developing States Network
Global Communities on Island Issues such as biodiversity, climate change and sustainable tourism. The Small Island Developing States Network was initiated as a follow up to the Barbados Programme of Action from 1994. It was recognised that all islands share common issues and SIDSnet was initiated with a mandate to implement the communication segment in the implementation of the Programme. - Pacific Studies WWW Virtual Library
Part of the World-Wide Web Virtual Library, provided by the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at ANU (Australian National University). - Oceanian Governments on the WWW
Prepared and maintained by Gunnar Anzinger, this is a comprehensive database of governmental institutions on the World Wide Web: parliaments, ministries, offices, law courts, embassies, city councils, public broadcasting corporations, central banks, multi-governmental institutions etc. Also includes political parties and updated list of government agencies and embassies. Tabular index by country indicates number of entries and last update. Last update is December 2002. - Political Resources on the Web — Australia/Oceania
Listings of political sites available on the Internet sorted by country, with links to Parties, Organizations, Governments, Media and more from all around the world. Includes maps for each country. - The Open Directory Project — Oceania
The Open Directory Project’s goal is to produce the most comprehensive directory of the web, by relying on a vast army of volunteer editors. - A Large Map of Oceania
