Village Courts in Papua New Guinea (From Justice Programs for Aboriginal and Other Indigenous Communities, P 75-85, 1985, Kathleen M Hazelhurst, ed. - See NCJ-100652)

• NCJ Number: 100657
• Author(s): P Bayne
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Type: Conference Material
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

This paper describes the structure and operation of Papua, New Guinea's, village court system, which is designed to return power to villagers so they may resolve disputes according to local custom.

Abstract

A village court is created by proclamation of the Minister of Justice, and the court magistrates (no less than 3 and no more than 10 for each court) are appointed by the Minister for Justice on the recommendation of the Provincial Supervising Magistrate for the Province in which the court is located. There are no procedural steps which distinguish a criminal from a civil case. The courts do not have any direct power to imprison,< but they can make imprisonment orders to be enforced by official magistrates. The primary function of a village court is to ensure peace and harmony in its district by mediating and settling disputes justly. Disputes are generally settled in accordance with magistrates' perceptions of local rules and customs. Court decisions can be appealed to official magistrates, who can at any time review a village court decision. Although the village courts may appear to act unjustly by an outsider's value system, villagers apparently have basic confidence in the courts' ability to resolve disputes according to village values. 11-item bibliography.