Abstract:
With less than 50 residents, and accessible only by a 2-day boat trip from Mangareva in French Polynesia, Pitcairn Island is home to a particularly small and isolated community with a colourful history and culture. Like other Pacific nations, this British Overseas Territory is constantly battling with the question of how to maintain an effective and just legal system that copes with its unique social and cultural context. Pitcairn’s law is made up of a complex mixture of locally passed ordinances, along with English common law, rules of equity, and English statutes “of general application”. Pitcairn is also, of course, subject to international law. There are constant difficulties in applying complex English laws and international law standards to a community of Pitcairn’s size, and in efficiently achieving a comprehensive legal system able to deal with unforeseen circumstances and modern contexts. These challenges came under particular scrutiny during “Operation Unique” – the investigation into allegations of widespread and long term sexual offending – and the resulting criminal proceedings. In these proceedings, several males on Pitcairn were found guilty of sexual offending under laws of England that had never been published on Pitcairn. There was vocal criticism of the ad hoc nature of the criminal law system created to deal with the events; arguments that legality and rule of law principles had been breached; and accusations that the courts did not sufficiently recognise Pitcairn’s unique cultural context. This paper looks at Pitcairn’s legal system in the wake of “Operation Unique”. It examines the historical development of Pitcairn’s legal system and the post-2000 flurry of law-making. With this background, it discusses the applicability of ideas of justice and the rule of law to small communities, and asks, from a pragmatic perspective, how an efficient and effective legal system can be maintained that achieves justice for this unique community.