Court of Appeal of Fiji

Last updated

The Court of Appeal of Fiji is one of three courts that were established by Chapter 9 of the 1997 Constitution, the others being the High Court and the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal was a new institution established when the 1997 Constitution came into effect; the other two courts predated it. The Constitution authorizes the Court of Appeal "to hear and determine appeals" from all High Court judgements. Occasionally, other powers may be assigned to this court by law.

Contents

The President of the Court of Appeal chairs the Court pf Appeal. The Chief Justice is not permitted to hold this position; the Court of Appeal is the only court from which the Chief Justice is constitutionally barred from membership. This is to give the Court of Appeal a measure of independence from the other courts. Also members of the Court of Appeal are the puisne judges, at least ten in number (who also sit on the High Court), and persons specifically appointed as Justice of Appeal.

Section 129 of the Constitution declares that "A judge who has sat in a trial of a matter that is the subject of appeal to a higher court must not sit in the appeal." As the membership of the High Court overlaps to a large extent with that of the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court, this clause is inserted to prevent a conflict of interest.

These constitutional arrangements were temporarily upset by the Fiji coup of 2000. On the advice of then-Chief Justice Sir Timoci Tuivaga, the Interim Military Government of Commodore Frank Bainimarama promulgated three decrees suspending the Constitution and reforming the judiciary. The Supreme Court was abolished, and the Chief Justice was made President of the Appeal Court. Following a High Court order on 15 November 2000 to restore the Constitution, upheld by the Court of Appeal on 2 March 2001, the former judicial order was restored.

Gordon Ward was appointed as the President of the Appeal Court, which position he held until 2007. [1] In 2007, following the military coup of 5 December 2006, six Australian and New Zealand judges resigned from the court. They were replaced by two Malaysian judges, "with more appointments from Asia expected to follow soon". [2]

A Court of Appeals ruling in April 2009, which found that the 2006 coup had been illegal, triggered the 2009 Fijian constitutional crisis. Following the ruling by three Court of Appeals judges, all of whom were from Sydney, Australia, the President of Fiji suspended the country's constitution and removed all judges from office. Two of the three judges were on a plane bound for Australia at the time of the President's actions. [3] A new panel of three judges was subsequently appointed.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Fiji</span> Political system of Fiji

The politics of Fiji take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic. Fiji has a multiparty system with the Prime Minister of Fiji as head of government. The executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Fiji. The judiciary is mostly independent of the executive and the legislature.

The title of Lord President of the Supreme Court was formerly the title of the head of the judiciary in Malaysia, until 1994 when the office was renamed "Chief Justice of the Federal Court".

The chief justice is the presiding member of a supreme court in many countries with a justice system based on English common law, such as the High Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of Ghana, the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong, the Supreme Court of India, the Supreme Court of Ireland, the Supreme Court of Japan, the Supreme Court of Nepal, the Supreme Court of New Zealand, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, the Supreme Court of Singapore, the Supreme Court of the United States, and provincial or state supreme courts/high courts.

Chapter 9: Judiciary.Chapter 9 of the 1997 Constitution of Fiji is titled Judiciary. It is divided into twenty-two sections, setting out the composition and functions of the Judicial branch of the Fijian government.

Taniela (Daniel) Vafo'ou Fatiaki CF was the Chief Justice of Fiji from 1 August 2002, when he succeeded Sir Timoci Tuivaga, till 5 December 2008. As Chief Justice, he presided over both the High Court and the Supreme Court, but was constitutionally barred from presiding over, or even sitting on, the Appeal Court. On 3 January 2007, he was sent on leave by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, which had seized power on 5 December 2006. On 19 January, he was formally suspended, pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct. This investigation was dropped in December 2008 as part of a deal that involved his formal resignation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief Justice of Fiji</span> Highest judicial officer of Fiji

The chief justice is Fiji's highest judicial officer. The office and its responsibilities are set out in Chapter 5 of the 2013 Constitution of Fiji. The Chief Justice is appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Sir Timoci Uluiburotu Tuivaga was a Fijian judge, who was Chief Justice from 31 March 1980 to 31 July 2002, when he retired. He was Fiji's first native-born Chief Justice.

The High Court of Fiji is one of three courts that was established by Chapter 9 of the 1997 Constitution of Fiji — the others being the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. The Constitution empowered Parliament to create other courts; these were to be subordinate to the High Court, which was authorized to oversee all proceedings of such courts. The High Court had unlimited original jurisdiction to hear and determine any civil or criminal proceedings under any law and such other original jurisdiction as is conferred on it under the Constitution.

The Supreme Court of Fiji is one of three courts established by the now-defunct Chapter 9 of the Constitution, the others being the High Court and the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court is declared to be "the final appellate court of the State" – in other words, there is no judicial authority higher than the Supreme Court. In this respect, the Supreme Court takes over the appellate functions formerly performed by the United Kingdom's Judicial Committee of the Privy Council before Fiji became a republic in 1987.

Puisne judges in Fiji sit on the High Court and the Court of Appeal, but not on the Supreme Court. According to the now-abrogated Chapter 9 of the Fijian 1997 Constitution, there must be a minimum of ten puisne judges, who are appointed by the President on the nomination of the Judicial Service Commission, who must first consult the appropriate Cabinet Minister and the committee of the House of Representatives responsible for the administration of justice.

Justices of Appeal in Fiji are judges who sit on the Court of Appeal and on the Supreme Court, but not on the High Court.

Fiji's Court of Appeal is chaired by the President of the Court of Appeal. The Chief Justice of Fiji is not permitted to hold this position; in order to give the Court of Appeal a degree of independence from the High Court and the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice, who chairs both courts, is constitutionally disqualified from presiding over, or even sitting on, the Court of Appeal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme court</span> Highest court in a jurisdiction

In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, and highcourt of appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of a supreme court are not subject to further review by any other court. Supreme courts typically function primarily as appellate courts, hearing appeals from decisions of lower trial courts, or from intermediate-level appellate courts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Gates</span> Australian judge

Anthony Harold Cumberland Thomas Gates was the chief justice of Fiji from 2008 to 2019. Justice Gates is best known for his decision in Chandrika Prasad v. Att-Gen of Fiji [2000] 2 FLR 89; Prasad v. Republic of Fiji & Another [2001] 1 LRC 665; [2001] NZAR 21 in which he held that the Constitution of Fiji had not been abrogated by the military intervention in 2000, and that the Constitution continued to be the law of the land. His decision was upheld by Fiji’s Court of Appeal, in February 2001. However, the decision which should have led to the restoration of the Parliament suspended by the coup of 2000 was not obeyed by the government at that time, the Government instead choosing to call for a vote in 2001.

Sir Frederik Gordon Roy Ward OBE is a retired British judge who has served in various countries of the Commonwealth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judiciary of Spain</span>

The Judiciary of Spain consists of Courts and Tribunals, composed of judges and magistrates (Justices), who have the power to administer justice in the name of the King of Spain.

In April 2009, Fiji underwent a constitutional crisis when the Court of Appeal ruled that the 2006 Fijian coup d'état had been illegal. The Court dismissed the Interim Cabinet led by Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama that had governed Fiji since the coup. However, President Josefa Iloilo announced on a nationwide radio broadcast that he was abrogating the Constitution. He dismissed all judges and constitutional appointees, and reinstated Bainimarama and his cabinet. He also instituted emergency rule which increased police powers and allowed media censorship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of Nauru</span> Court in Nauru

The Supreme Court of Nauru was the highest court in the judicial system of the Republic of Nauru till the establishment of the Nauruan Court of Appeal in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Maraga</span> 14th Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya

David Kenani Maraga is a Kenyan lawyer and jurist. He was the 14th Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya from October 2016 until his retirement in January 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Kiribati constitutional crisis</span>

A constitutional crisis began in Kiribati when the Cabinet of Kiribati suspended two of its High Court Justices. High Court Judge David Lambourne was suspended in May 2022 while Chief Justice Bill Hastings was suspended on 30 June 2022, both over allegations of misconduct. A Court of Appeal ruling upheld an earlier ruling of Chief Justice Hastings that the government acted unconstitutionally in not permitting David Lambourne to resume his duties as a High Court judge, and overturned the subsequent attempted deportation of Lambourne. In response, the government suspended all judges of the Kiribati Court of Appeal on 6 September 2022.

References

  1. ↑ "Tuvalu govt yet to address Fiji travel ban on Chief Justice". Radio New Zealand International. 14 August 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Two Malaysian judges appointed to Fiji Court of Appeal". Radio New Zealand International . 4 September 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  3. ↑ The Age:A judge for four days as Fiji flails, Kate McClymont, The Age, April 11, 2009
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.