Nauru

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.