Kiribati

Legal tradition

Kiribati belongs to the common law with customary law tradition. English common law received through the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, continued at independence in 1979, layered over I-Kiribati custom. The system is spread across 33 atolls covering 3.5 million square kilometres of ocean, so magistrates' courts and land courts sit island by island while a single High Court judge and a non-resident Court of Appeal serve the whole republic. Kiribati is one of the few Pacific states that still retains an appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.

How power is divided

Unitary with statutory island councils. The Local Government Act gives each inhabited island a council with bylaw-making powers, and on most islands the traditional maneaba (meeting house assembly) remains the real forum for community decisions. Banaba (Ocean Island) has a distinct status reflecting the displacement of the Banaban community to Rabi in Fiji, with reserved representation in the Maneaba.

Where law comes from

The Constitution

Supreme law; Chapter II rights and express protection of land rights.

Acts of the Maneaba ni Maungatabu

Unicameral legislature of 45 members.

Customary law

Applied under the Laws of Kiribati Act 1989, especially to land, fishing rights and adoption.

Received English law

Pre-independence English common law, equity and statutes of general application remain in force so far as they are not inconsistent with the Constitution, local statute or custom.

The legal profession

A small fused profession admitted by the High Court under the Legal Practitioners Ordinance. Many practitioners are in government service, and the People's Lawyer's office carries most private client work. Because the Court of Appeal is non-resident, appellate hearings are grouped into sittings when judges travel to Tarawa.