SOURCES OF LAW UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF VANUATU

Abstract

On 31st July 1980, Vanuatu became independent. For the preceding seventy-four years the country had been the subject of an Anglo-French Condominium, an arrangement which arose for commercial reasons. In the 1870's the French moved into what had formerly been a primarily British trading area. In 1878 a policy of'mutual exclusiveness' was agreed upon, followed in 1887 by a Convention establishing a joint naval commission to protect the lives and property of British and French subjects. However, this did not remedy the problems caused by a lack of satisfactory civil law to govern commercial transactions. In 1906, therefore, a further Convention between the two countries established the Condominium (still referred to by the Islanders as 'T h e Pandemonium'). This Convention was modified by the Anglo-French Protocol of 19141 under which, with some amendments, the Condominium was governed until independence. The Convention established 'a region of joint influence, in which the subjects and citizens of the two signatory powers shall enjoy equal rights of residence, personal protection, and trade'. Each power had sovereignty over its own subjects or citizens and other immigrants who opted for its legal system. New Hebridians did not come under the jurisdiction of either power, a factor which added greatly to the impracticability of the system.