Patrick Howley FMS
Abstract
The Melanesian way of law and justice served the people of Papua New Guinea for thousands of years. The colonial powers did not recognise custom law as a valid form of justice and replaced it with the Westminster style of courts and government. In 1973 the House of Assembly was anxious to recognise custom law but opposition from the purists and lack of a model foiled their attempts. At independence the colonial law and courts’ system was accepted almost unchanged but as a possible direction for future action, it was written into the constitution that there was a duty on the courts to develop custom law as a part of what was called ‘the underlying law’. This essay provides some thoughts on how this could be carried out.
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