The legal system of Nauru
A common law system on a single 21 square kilometre island, built on law received through Australian administration under the League of Nations mandate and UN trusteeship, layered over Nauruan custom in land and family matters. The defining change of the last decade is appellate: Nauru terminated its agreement allowing appeals to the High Court of Australia with effect from March 2018 and established its own Nauru Court of Appeal, so the republic now has no foreign final court. Nauru also hosts Australia's offshore immigration processing arrangements, which have generated a body of litigation out of all proportion to the island's size.
Legal tradition
Nauru belongs to the common law with customary law tradition. A common law system on a single 21 square kilometre island, built on law received through Australian administration under the League of Nations mandate and UN trusteeship, layered over Nauruan custom in land and family matters. The defining change of the last decade is appellate: Nauru terminated its agreement allowing appeals to the High Court of Australia with effect from March 2018 and established its own Nauru Court of Appeal, so the republic now has no foreign final court. Nauru also hosts Australia's offshore immigration processing arrangements, which have generated a body of litigation out of all proportion to the island's size.
How power is divided
Unitary and highly centralised — Nauru has no second tier of general government. The Nauru Island Council was abolished in 1999, so the state deals directly with citizens, though the 14 districts remain the basis for parliamentary constituencies and the twelve tribes retain social significance in land and title questions.
Where law comes from
- The Constitution
- Supreme law; Part II rights, and land alienation restrictions.
- Acts of Parliament
- Unicameral Parliament of 19 members.
- Customary law
- Applied under the Custom and Adopted Laws Act 1971 to land, inheritance and family matters.
- Adopted statutes
- Certain Queensland and Commonwealth of Australia statutes were adopted at independence and remain in force as amended locally.
The legal profession
A very small fused profession admitted by the Supreme Court under the Legal Practitioners Act 1973, supplemented by pleaders — non-lawyers licensed to appear in the District Court and before the Lands Committee, a practical necessity given the number of resident lawyers. Judicial officers are frequently appointed from Australia, New Zealand or elsewhere in the Pacific.
Law by topic in Nauru
- Constitutional Law1968 Constitution; appeals to Australia's High Court ended in 2018A republic under the 1968 independence Constitution with an enforceable fundamental-rights chapter and a President chosen by Parliament. Nauru terminated its appellate link to the High Court of Australia in 2018.
- Tax LawEmployment and business taxes introduced in 2014; no VATNauru had almost no direct taxation until 2014, when employment and services tax and business profits tax were introduced. There is still no value added tax; import duties do the indirect work.
- Family LawFamily Court with custom, and same-sex conduct decriminalised in 2016Marriage and divorce under Nauruan statutes with a dedicated Family Court division, custom recognised in adoption and succession, and a notably progressive 2016 criminal code reform.
- Criminal LawCrimes Act 2016 replacing the Queensland-derived codeThe Crimes Act 2016 was a comprehensive recodification replacing the inherited Queensland-style criminal code, modernising offences and decriminalising consensual same-sex conduct. There is no death penalty.
- Civil ProcedureSupreme Court with a domestic Court of Appeal created in 2018District Court and Family Court below, the Supreme Court with unlimited jurisdiction, and since 2018 a domestic Court of Appeal that replaced appeals to the High Court of Australia.
- Immigration & NationalityRegional processing arrangements and a climate citizenship programmeImmigration is dominated by two unusual features: hosting Australia's offshore asylum processing, and a citizenship-by-investment programme launched to fund relocation from the mined interior.
- Business & CorporateCorporations Act 1972 with revenue from processing and licensingCompanies register under the Corporations Act 1972 with the Registrar of Corporations. The economy rests on regional processing arrangements, fishing licences and residual phosphate rather than a broad private sector.
- Employment & LabourPublic-sector dominated employment with limited private-sector statuteMost formal employment is with government or the phosphate and processing operations. Public service employment is regulated by statute, while private-sector terms rest largely on contract.
- Property & LandFractional customary ownership and land destroyed by phosphate miningLand is customary and cannot be sold to non-Nauruans. Ownership is fragmented into fractional shares among many family members, determined by the Nauru Lands Committee, and much of the interior is mined-out wasteland.
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