User:MinorProphet/Judicial Commissioner

Chief Justice of the Kingdom of Fiji (1872–1874)
The first Chief Justice of the Fiji was appointed by King Cakobau during the short-lived Kingdom of Fiji.


 * 1872–1874: Sir Charles James Herbert de Courcy St. Julian (died in office 27 November 1874, a few weeks after Fiji's annexation by Britain.)

Chief Justice of the Colony of Fiji (1875–1877)
Fiji was annexed (somewhat unwillingly) by Great Britain on 10 October 1874, and the Colony of Fiji was established under the provisions of the Pacific Islanders Protection Acts of 1872 and 1875, which sought to bring the rule of law to British subjects who were engaged in blackbirding to supply labour for the European-run cotton plantations in Fiji.


 * 1875–1876 Sir William Hackett (judge)


 * 1876–1877 Sir John Gorrie

Chief Justice of Fiji and Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific (1877–1961)
The British Western Pacific Territories were established by the Western Pacific Orders-in-Council 1877 (amended in 1879 and 1880), and by the Pacific Order-in-Council 1893.

The functions of the monarch as head of state were exercised by a High Commissioner of the Western Pacific, who was also ex officio the Governor of Fiji (after 1953, the Governor of the Solomon Islands). The High Commission provided a justice system for the entire region, whose senior judge was the Chief Justice of the High Commissioner's Court, otherwise known as the Chief Judicial Commissioner of the Western Pacific. The post was held ex officio by the Chief Justice of Fiji. Appeals lay to the Privy Council in London.


 * 1877–1882 Sir John Gorrie


 * 1882–1885 Sir Henry Thomas Wrenfordsley.  This somewhat difficult man only served eight months in the job and took sick leave in early 1884.
 * 1885–1889 Sir Fielding Clarke (acting 1882 and 1884–1885)


 * 1889–1902 Sir Henry Spencer Hardtman Berkeley


 * 1902–1914 Sir Charles Henry Major


 * 1910–1911 (acting) Albert Ehrhardt


 * 1914–1922 Sir Charles Simon Davson


 * 1922–1923 (acting) Kenneth James Muir MacKenzie


 * 1923–1929 Sir Alfred Karney Young, KC


 * 1929–1936 Capt. Sir Maxwell Maxwell-Anderson, CBE, KC RN (retd.)


 * 1936–1942 Owen Cecil Kirkpatrick Corrie MC

Between 1942–1945 the High Commission was suspended by military administration during the War in the Pacific.


 * 1945–1949 Sir Claud Ramsey Wilmot Seton, MC


 * 1949–1953 Sir James Beveridge Thomson

In 1953, Fiji and Tonga separated from the High Commission as a prelude to full independence, and the High Commission offices were transferred to Honiara on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. The office of High Commissioner was separated from that of the Governor of Fiji, although the High Commissioner's Court continued to sit in Suva, and the Chief Justice of Fiji remained the Chief Judicial Commissioner of the Western Pacific.


 * 1953–1958 Sir Ragnar Hyne


 * 1958–1962 Sir Albert George Lowe, last judge to hold both titles.

Chief Justices of Fiji since 1962
After 1961 the High Court's functions began to be transferred to the increasingly independent island states under the provisions of Western Pacific (Courts) Order in Council, 1961. The Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific became Chief Justice of the High Court of the Western Pacific, and removed from Fiji to join the rest of the High Commission in the Solomon Islands. The position was separated from that of the Chief Justice of Fiji.

Although no longer connected with the British High Commission, the position of Chief Justice of Fiji continued to be filled by judges from Britain, Australia and New Zealand.


 * 1962–1963 Colonel John Levy Macduff, MC (died in office)


 * 1963 Clifford Hammett (acting CJ)


 * 1964–1967 Richard Hugh Mills-Owens

Fiji gained independence on 10 October 1970.


 * 1967–1972 Sir Clifford James Hammett


 * 1972–1974 Sir John Angus Nimmo, CBE


 * 1974–1980 Sir Clifford Harry Grant

In 1976 the High Commission of the Western Pacific was abolished, the last archives being finally packed up in Honiara in August 1978.


 * 1980–2002 Sir Timoci Tuivaga


 * 2002–2008 Daniel Fatiaki (on leave after 2006 following the 2006 Fijian coup d'état


 * 2008 - present Anthony Gates

Chief Justice of the High Court of the Western Pacific (1962–1976)
In 1961 the High Court's functions began to be transferred to the increasingly independent island states under the provisions of Western Pacific (Courts) Order in Council, 1961. The Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific became Chief Justice of the High Court of the Western Pacific, and removed from Fiji to join the rest of the High Commission in the Solomon Islands. The position was separated from that of the Chief Justice of Fiji.


 * 1962–1963 Geoffrey Gould Briggs


 * 1963–1967 Lieutenant-Commander Sir Jocelyn Bodilly, R.N.V.R., V.R.D


 * 1967–1973 vacant?


 * 1973 Sir Dermot Renn Davis was appointed Judge of the High Court of the Western Pacific and as British Judge of the Joint Court of the Condominium of the New Hebrides.

Most of the island groups had gained some form of independence by 1971. On 2 January 1976 after nearly all had been given separate statehood, the office of High Commissioner and the entity of the Pacific Territories were abolished. Its only remnant was the High Court of the Western Pacific, and between 1978-1980 the former territories gained full independence.

The relative lack of a trained judiciary and lawyers in the smaller countries meant that Britain (and later Australia and New Zealand) continued to supply members of the legal profession after independence. The only High Court for some island states was the High Court of the Western Pacific in Fiji and, as late as the seventies, their Court of Appeal was the Fiji Court of Appeal.

Other officials appointed Judicial Commissioner

 * 1883–1887 George Ruthven Le Hunte A Judicial Commissioner W. Pacific only


 * 1897 ? Hamilton Hunter


 * 1899 - 1909 Lt-Col. W. E. Gudgeon, Chief Justice and Deputy Commissioner, Cook Islands


 * 1912 - 1916 Henry Eugene Walter Grant KCMG, (1855-1934). (Not to be confused with Sir Henry Grant, Governor of Malta 1907-1909)


 * 1930 Henry Harrison Vaskess, Colonial Secretary to the HC


 * Up to Dec. 1960 John Geoffrey Fearnley Scarr (a JC WP until Dec. 1960)


 * Sir Moti Tikaram was never officially Chief Justice of Fiji, although he was acting CJ 20 times...