VANUATU PENAL CODE

Abstract

Like many other Penal Codes in the Commonwealth, the Penal Code of Vanuatu is divided into two Parts, Part I, which deals with general principles of criminal liability, and Part 2, which sets out the definition of the individual offences. The presentation has the advantage of orthodoxy and conformity, but whether it is the most helpful method of presentation is another question of course. The form of presentation requires that the persons charged with applying the Code, either as magistrates or as police, and the persons wishing to ascertain the extent of their liability as citizens, must read the contents of the first Part, and carry them in their mind, and apply them where appropriate into the definitions of individual offences in the second Part. This is not an easy feat when the contents of the first Part are few in number, and when the readers are very familiar with the English language and with the art of implication. Neither of these circumstances is present with regard to the Penal Code of Vanuatu, which cannot help but render it difficult to understand and to apply in this country.