Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific

The Chief Justice of the High Commissioner's Court, more commonly known as the Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific, was the chief judicial officer throughout the British Western Pacific Territories from 1877 through 1976. This was a supra-colonial entity established by the Western Pacific Orders-in-Council 1877 (amended in 1879 and 1880), and by the Pacific Order-in-Council 1893.[note 1] Headed by a High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, who was also ex officio the Governor of Fiji, until the end of 1952, it included numerous islands, mostly small, throughout Oceania. Composition varied over time, but Fiji (1877–1952) and the Solomon Islands (1893–1976) were its most durable members.

From 1877 through 1961, the Chief Justice of Fiji was ex officio Chief Judicial Commissioner, apart from a three-year suspension of the High Commission from 1942 through 1945 during the War in the Pacific, when many of Britain's colonies in Oceania were under either military administration or Japanese occupation. Appeals lay to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.

From the beginning of 1953, Fiji and Tonga were separated from the High Commission as a prelude to full independence, and the High Commission offices were transferred to Honiara on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, with the Governor of the Solomon Islands now being the High Commissioner ex officio. The High Commissioner's Court, however, continued to meet in Suva, with the Chief Justice of Fiji continuing as Chief Judicial Commissioner for another decade, until 1962, when the two offices were separated. Under the Western Pacific (Courts) Order in Council, gazetted on 15 August 1961 and effective from 9 April 1962, the High Commissioner's Court was renamed the High Court of the Western Pacific and relocated to the Solomon Islands.[1] The court consisted of a Chief Justice (as the office of Chief Judicial Commissioner was renamed – no longer the Chief Justice of Fiji) and two puisne judges, one based in Port Vila, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), and the other in Tarawa, Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati and Tuvalu).[2]

Most of the island groups had gained either independence or internal self-government by 1971. On 2 January 1976 after nearly all had been given separate statehood, the office of High Commissioner and the entity of the Pacific Territories were abolished. The High Commission of the Western Pacific was abolished, the last archives being finally packed up in Honiara in August 1978.[3] A remnant of the High Commission was the right of appeal from the courts of many island nations to the Court of Appeal of Fiji, then a right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which persisted into the late 1970s.[2]

List of Chief Judicial Commissioners
# Incumbent Portrait Tenure Head of State Notes
Took office Left office
Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific and Chief Justice of Fiji (1877–1962)
1. Sir John Gorrie[4][5] 1877 1882 Victoria
Sir Fielding Clarke
Acting		 1882 1882 Victoria
2. Sir Henry Wrenfordsley[6][7][8] 1882 1885 Victoria
Sir Fielding Clarke
Acting for Wrenfordsley		 1884 1885 Victoria
3. Sir Fielding Clarke 1885 1889 Victoria
4. Sir Henry Berkeley[9][10][11][12] 1889 1902 Victoria
Edward VII
5. Sir Charles Major[13][14][15][16][17][18] 1902 1914 Edward VII
George V
Albert Ehrhardt[19]


Acting for Major

 1910 21 February 1911 Edward VII
George V		 Ehrhardt, the then Attorney-General of Fiji, acted as Chief Judicial Commissioner while Major, the incumbent Chief Judicial Commissioner, was acting as High Commissioner for the Western Pacific.
6. Sir Charles Davson[20][21][22][23][24] 1914 1922 George V
Sir Kenneth Muir MacKenzie[25][26]
Acting		 1922 1923 George V
7. Sir Alfred Young, KC 1923 1929 George V
8. Sir Maxwell Anderson, CBE, KC, RN (retd.) 1929 1936 George V
Edward VIII
9. Sir Owen Corrie, MC[27] 1936 1945 Edward VIII
George VI
10. Sir Claud Seton, MC[28][29][30] 1945 22 November 1949 George V
11. Sir James Thomson 1949 1953 George VI
Elizabeth II
12. Sir Ragnar Hyne[31][32][33][34][35] 1953 1958 Elizabeth II
13. Sir Albert Lowe[36] 1958 1962 Elizabeth II
Chief Justice of the High Court of the Western Pacific (1962–1976)
14. Sir Geoffrey Briggs[37] 1962 1965 Elizabeth II
15. Sir Jocelyn Bodilly, R.N.V.R., VRD[1][38][39][40][41][42] 14 June 1965 1975 Elizabeth II

References

Notes

  1. "B. (1.) The Chief Justice and every other judge for the time being of the Supreme Court, shall be, by virtue of his office, a Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific for the purposes of this Order, and is in this Order referred to as a Judicial Commissioner. (2.) Where, in the opinion of the High Commissioner, the attendance of a Judicial Commissioner holding office as aforesaid is impracticable, or would be inconvenient, the High Commissioner may from time to time in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty, by writing under his hand and seal, appoint a person of legal knowledge and experience to be a Judicial Commissioner for particular purposes or for a particular time. The London Gazette, 8 September 1893 (26439), pp. 5119-5121.

Citations

  1. "Judicial System". Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia 1893–1978. Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia, 1893–1978, 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  2. Justice Gordon Ward (2005) Achieving effective legal representation in small Pacific island Commonwealth States Archived 31 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Commonwealth Law Conference, London, September 2005
  3. "Western Pacific High Commission". Ameliapedia. TIGHAR. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  4. Brereton 1997, p. 104.
  5. Cooper, Charles Alfred (1896) An editor's retrospect; fifty years of newspaper work p. 147
  6. "London Gazette, 19 June, 1883". london-gazette.co.uk.
  7. Louch, T. S. Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  8. Bennett, John Michael. Sir Henry Wrenfordsley: Second Chief Justice of Western Australia, 1880–1883
  9. Knighthood for Chief Justice of Fiji and Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific Knighthood for Berkeley
  10. 'The Times' 2 October 1918: 30 September 1918, death of Sir Henry Spencer Berkeley, 3rd son of Thomas Berkeley Hardtman-Berkeley
  11. Dictionary of Australasian Biography
  12. "Profile of LGG". www.rootschat.com.
  13. "No. 27476". The London Gazette. 23 September 1902. p. 6075.
  14. Replaced Berkeley in 1902 The Otago Witness, 13 August 1902
  15. Knighted June 1911, still CJ, W. Pacific
  16. Sir Charles Major biog. Chief Justice of Fiji and Chief Judicial Commissioner for the W. Pacific 1902–14 (maybe 1902-11) and M.E.C.(possibly HC=High Commissioner) of Fiji 1905–14
  17. Announcement as CJ, British Guiana The Edinburgh Gazette, 29 September, 1914
  18. This source says that Albert Ehrhardt, the Attorney-General, was acting as JCWP in October 1910 (p.148) and that Charles Major "had returned to his substantive position as JCWP" by August 1911 (p.153) (Lavaka 1981, pp. 148, 153)
  19. Ehrhardt was also Attorney General 1903–1914; acting for Major while Major was Acting High Commissioner (1910–1911). (Lavaka 1981, pp. 148)
  20. (1857–1933) Charles Davson: called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1881. Joined the Bar of British Guiana in 1882. Solicitor General, 1898. Appointed Puisne Judge of Mauritius in 1905; Chief Justice of Fiji and Chief Judicial Commissioner for Western Pacific in 1914. Knighted 1917.
  21. "War Honours - Most Honourable Order of the Bath 1917". www.rootsweb.ancestry.com.
  22. "Died 6 November 1933" (PDF). ancestry.com.
  23. "Full text of "Stewart's hand book of the Pacific islands; a reliable guide to all the inhabited islands of the Pacific Ocean, for traders, tourists and settlers"". archive.org.
  24. Daley 1996, p. 114.
  25. His surname was Muir Mackenzie
  26. "Person Page". thepeerage.com.
  27. He was appointed Chief Justice of Fiji and Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific. Tuesday 25 February 1936 Corrie
  28. Snow, Philip (15 November 1997). Years of Hope: Cambridge, Colonial Administrator in the South Seas, and Cricket. The Radcliffe Press. ISBN 9781860641473 – via Google Books.
  29. "Biography" (PDF). oldframlinghamian.com.
  30. By May 1950 Seton was chairing a judicial inquiry in Kenya Kenya Gazette, 9 May 1950
  31. CJ Tonga & Solomon Islands, a Judicial Commissioner 1930 Burra Record 18 June 1930
  32. Knighted 1956 London Gazette 10 February 1956 p. 825
  33. V. brief biog. His father's surname was Hein.
  34. "The Sydney Morning Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  35. Picture of Hyne in judge's wig & robe
  36. Christie's sale of medals with biog.
  37. April 1962. The QUEEN has been pleased to give directions for the appointment of Geoffrey Gould Briggs, Esq., Puisne Judge, Unified Judiciary of Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei, to be Chief Justice designate to the High Court of the Western Pacific.
  38. Justice Gerard Winter. One South Pacific. One regional court. Three case studies Archived 27 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
  39. London Gazette, 4 March 1969 Knighthood
  40. Died 27 April 1997 London Gazette Issue 54773, 23 May 1997
  41. Van Der Vat, Dan Eel Pie Island with picture
  42. He was the grandson of Francis Bodilly, artist and colonial judge. He married Phyllis Maureen Gotch, also an artist. His grandmother was also a Gotch. Cornwall artists index

Sources

  • Biles, John (1996). "Western Pacific Territories". In Olson, James Stuart; Shadle, Robert (eds.). Historical Dictionary of the British Empire, Volume 2. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 1156–7. ISBN 978-0-313-29367-2.
  • Brereton, Bridget (1997). Law, Justice and Empire: The Colonial Career of John Gorrie 1829–1892. University of the West Indies Press. ISBN 9789766400354.
  • Care, Jennifer Corrin; Paterson, Donald Edgar (2007). Introduction to South Pacific Law (revised, 2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-84568-039-8.

Further reading
  • Library Resources for Pacific History, University of Auckland Library
  • Duff, Peter (1997) The evolution of trial by judge and assessors in Fiji Care, Jennifer Corrin (ed.) Journal of Pacific Studies Volume 21: Sources of Law in the South Pacific.
  • Handley, K.R. (2001) The constitutional crisis in Fiji. The Australian Law Journal, Volume 75, November 2001, pp. 688–693.
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