Procedures
High Court and Court of Appeal with magistrates across the atolls
Magistrates Courts on the islands sit below the High Court, with the Court of Appeal above it. Magistrates also exercise the lands jurisdiction that decides customary entitlement.
Key rules
- Deadline — Most contract and tort claims are barred after six years
- Deadline — Appeals to the Court of Appeal follow its periodic sitting calendar
Governing law
- High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 1964, Or. 6
- Magistrates' Courts OrdinanceCap. 52
- Court of Appeal Act 1980
- Limitation Act 2004
In practice
Procedure follows the older English model, with rules dating from 1964 that predate modern case management. The practical constraints are geographic: the High Court sits mainly in South Tarawa, and outer-island litigants depend on visiting magistrates, so limitation periods can expire before a court is physically reachable. The lands jurisdiction of the Magistrates Court is the route for customary land entitlement, with appeal to the High Court — a single hierarchy rather than the separate land courts found in Samoa or Tonga. The Court of Appeal sits periodically with judges drawn from other jurisdictions.