Rights
1978 Constitution with custom as a source of law
A Westminster constitution from independence in 1978 with a justiciable fundamental-rights chapter, retaining the King as head of state and expressly recognising custom as a source of law.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — A unitary state with nine provinces exercising devolved powers under the Provincial Government Act. Long-running proposals for a federal constitution have not been enacted.
Governing law
- Constitution of Solomon Islands 1978, ch. II
- Constitution 1978, sch. 3application of laws
- Provincial Government Act 1997
- Leadership Code (Further Provisions) Act 1999
In practice
Schedule 3 sets the hierarchy of laws: the Constitution, then Acts of Parliament, then customary law, then the common law and equity of England as it stood at independence — with the important qualification that common law applies only so far as it is not inconsistent with custom. That inversion matters in land and family disputes. The rights chapter is enforceable in the High Court. The country's constitutional history is marked by the 1998–2003 conflict and the Regional Assistance Mission that followed, and by the Townsville Peace Agreement; the resulting tension between provincial autonomy and central authority remains the main axis of constitutional debate.