Judiciary of Kiribati

The Judiciary of Kiribati is the branch of the Government of Kiribati which interprets and applies the laws of the country.^[1] In addition to the Constitution, the Laws of Kiribati comprises customary law, which the courts must take into account when considering specified matters in criminal and civil proceedings.

Some 20 or so Magistrates Courts, composed of seven Magistrates and a clerk, deal with the less serious civil, criminal and land cases on a district basis.

The High Court hears the more serious civil and criminal cases referred to it by the Magistrates Courts and also hears appeals from the lower court. Appeals relating to land, divorce and inheritance are dealt with by the High Court's Land Division. Prior to 2014 there was only the one High Court judge but in that year a second (puisne) judge was appointed. The Chief Justice of the High Court is the Head of the Judiciary in Kiribati.

Appeals from the High Court are heard by the Court of Appeal. There are presently (2015) five Judges appointed to the Court of Appeal.

The president is responsible for all judicial appointments.

Chief Justices

Gilbert Islands

1977–1981 James Aiden O'Brien Quinn ^[2]

Kiribati (from 1979)

1995–2000 Richard Lussick
2000-2011 Robin Rhodes Millhouse (also Chief Justice of Nauru, 2006-2010)
2011– Sir John Baptist Muria

References

"Annual Address, 2015". Chief Justice's Chambers, Kiribati. Retrieved 20 February 2016.

↑ "The Judicial System of Kiribati". Commonwealth Governance. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
↑ The International Who's Who 2004

Judiciaries of Oceania

Sovereign states	Australia Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu

Associated states of New Zealand	Cook Islands Niue

Dependencies and other territories	American Samoa Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wallis and Futuna

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.