Publication: The Hybrid Courts of Melanesia : A Comparative Analysis of Village Courts of Papua New Guinea, Island Courts of Vanuatu, and Local Courts of Solomon Islands
Loading...
Date
2010-01
ISSN
Published
2010-01
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This paper examines three systems of courts of justice, each in a different country in the region of South Pacific islands known as Melanesia, where state legal systems have been adopted from former European colonial governments. The systems discussed are, by comparison, 'hybrid', each of them having been established with the intention of addressing disputes among small-scale social groups by less formal means or by taking greater heed of customary forms of dispute resolution. The paper applies a comparative analysis of these systems, covering their distinct history and the variances in structure, funding, personnel and jurisdictional coverage that impact on their effectiveness as state-sanctioned courts. Conclusions are offered with observations about the strengths and weaknesses of these hybrid systems and their potential for development as instruments of community-owned justice in Melanesia.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Evans, Daniel; Goddard, Michael; Paterson, Don. 2010. The Hybrid Courts of Melanesia : A Comparative Analysis of Village Courts of Papua New Guinea, Island Courts of Vanuatu, and Local Courts of Solomon Islands. Justice and development working paper series;no. 13. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18107 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Hybrid Justice in Vanuatu : The Island Courts(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-01)Island courts have been in operation in Vanuatu since 1984. Official documents have hitherto provided little information on their practical operations or utility, and our preliminary research in 2010 found that not much was known at the state governance level about their real circumstances. In 2011, we conducted fieldwork research on five islands, Efate, Santo, Malekula, Epi, and Tanna, to provide better information on the practical operations of island courts and their use by ni-Vanuatu. The author found that although island courts have the potential to provide a valuable service to rural ni-Vanuatu, a number of problems must first be addressed. Their resources and support networks need to be improved and a regularity in these services guaranteed. Networking with other governance institutions (including nongovernmental organizations [NGOs]) at the local level in the provinces could be facilitated, as cooperation among these institutions would be beneficial to all of them. It will also be useful to nencourage the island courts to strengthen the flexibility and creativity that they are, of necessity, already developing, particularly in relation to matters of 'kastom.'Publication Developing Specialized Court Services : International Experiences and Lessons Learned(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-01)Court specialization is commonly considered to be an important reform initiative to advance the development of a successful judicial system. Court specialization is thought useful even to address broader development constraints, such as the need for more effective access to contract enforcement, improvements in the investment climate, or more adequate protection of the environment. These studies have also pointed to some drawbacks, however. For example, special attention to, and the allocation of additional resources for, handling business cases can lead to the perception that a court provides preferential services to the business community but not the average person. Judges may also develop too close a relationship with a particular group of lawyers and interest groups that are involved in special case types, especially if those groups are relatively small and if judges serve in this special capacity exclusively and for an extended period. This report outlines the international experiences and good practices related to establishing specialized courts and creating the associated judicial expertise. It specifically highlights the information that is needed to determine if specialization is required in particular areas, as well as the specialization model that may be most appropriate, the requirements of the different models, and the approaches to training and selecting judges for special assignments. The paper also outlines the next steps a jurisdiction might take to examine the potential need and demand for further specialized judicial services and to consider what would be needed to meet those which are justified.Publication Comparative Study on Expert Witnesses in Court Proceedings(World Bank, 2010-06-30)The Turkish Ministry of Justice has identified the existing system of expert witnesses as an obstacle to the efficiency and effectiveness of the judicial services. The 2009 judicial reform strategy and the judicial reform action plan call for a comparative study analyzing the experience in other countries to provide input into the policy debate in Turkey. This study provides descriptions and analyses of approaches to the use of expert opinions in civil, criminal, and administrative court proceedings in France, Germany, Italy, and the United States. It focuses on five key areas: access to the function of expert, execution of an expert opinion, the opinion and its use in evidence, remuneration, and liability.Publication Estimating Staffing Needs in the Justice Sector(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-01)Justice system agencies around the world continue to seek adequate methods to estimate staffing needs. Especially when caseload rise and budgets are limited, the pressure is on to justify adequate staffing with solid data. The simpler approaches of basing staffing needs on number of cases filed or population numbers have proven to be imprecise at best and seriously flawed at worst. The search for better estimation measures first led to weighted caseload studies, which weighed the complexity and other special needs of different case types. As these methods still did not provide an accurate assessment, efforts continue to be made to develop a more precise measure of not just caseload but workload, a measure that factors in the time spent on managing the case and on the increasing amount of non-case-related work, such as administration, training, outreach, travel, etc. This paper describes the leading approaches (including the analytical, Delphi, and weighted caseload methods) used throughout the world for determining workload among justice sector employees, presenting the benefits and limitations of each. The paper then focuses on what is currently viewed as the more optimum method of the weighted workload study, and offers a step-by-step outline of how this kind of study can be developed and implemented. Also considered are the dual challenges of forecasting future staffing needs and incorporating performance measures to promote quality decision making and cost-efficient court procedures and services.Publication In Search of Success : Case Studies in Justice Sector Development in Sub-Saharan Africa(World Bank, 2010-06-01)The World Bank, Department for International Development (DFID) and other donors have long been engaged in legal and judicial reform in sub-Saharan Africa in such areas as legal drafting, strengthening court administration, judicial training, and the empowerment of citizens through a better understanding of the legal system. This has often been done on an ad hoc basis with only limited review of other reform efforts in the region. In order to foster a more responsive approach to justice sector development programs, a collection of case studies was commissioned. One of the more daunting tasks was identifying notable justice sector developments or reforms, which offered specific impacts and which could be examined through both a desk review and field research. Independent of the funding source, the evidence base was not only limited but revealed a need for donors themselves to invest in better data collection, which could then be analyzed and measured against benchmarks or objectives such as improved access to justice. There is a significant need to review and learn from experiences, including controversial ones, in Africa's justice sectors. These case studies are not homogenous largely because their subjects vary and span a wide array of developments that reflect the realities of the region. Each story stands alone and is in no particular order. In the final chapter, the conclusions offered in each story are digested into ideas for future actions. The collection also represents a modest range of stories and it is to be hoped that other cases will be identified and shared. A comparison of experiences of sector-wide programs (SWAPs), for example, could help both donors and governments enhance socio-economic impact. It should be noted that the emphasis in this report is on providing information about positive directions in justice sector development and the ways in which lessons learned might be applied to achieve greater impact in the future. The anticipated value of this collection is that some of the conclusions or actions may be taken up and used to contribute to improvements by those committed to improving the rule of law in sub-Saharan Africa and is in search of 'success'.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication The Journey Ahead(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31)The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.