Supreme Court of Vanuatu

Supreme Court of Vanuatu is the superior court of Vanuatu and is based in Port Vila. The Court consists of the Chief Justice and three puisne judges.

Supreme Court of Vanuatu
Jurisdiction	Civil matters, Criminal matters, Constitutional matters
Location	Port Vila
Authorised by	Constitution of Vanuatu
Appeals to	Court of Appeal
Appeals from	Magistrate's Courts
Number of positions	4; one Chief Justice, three puisne judges
Website	https://courts.gov.vu/about-us/supreme-court
Chief Justice
Currently	Vincent Lunabek
Since	2001

Appeals from the Supreme Court are heard by the Court of Appeal of Vanuatu, which is the supreme appellate court in the country. The Court of Appeal is constituted from time to time as the need arises.

With the exception of the Chief Justice, all members of the judiciary are appointed by the President of Vanuatu, who acts on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission, pursuant to Article 47(2) of the Constitution of Vanuatu). The Chief Justice is appointed by the President after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, pursuant to Article 49(3) of the Constitution.^[1]

The present Chief Justice of the Court is Vincent Lunabek.^[2]

Chief Justices

Chief Justices of the Court have included:

• Frederick Cooke (1980–90)
• Edwin Goldsborough (acting) (1991)
• Charles Vaudin d'Imecourt (1992–98)
• Vincent Lunabek (acting) (1997–2000)
• Vincent Lunabek (2001–)

In 1997, Chief Justice Vaudin d'Imecourt was not allowed in the country, leading to the case of Vaudin d'Imecourt v Manatawai [1997] VUSC 53.

Puisne judges

The Court has had the following past and present puisne judges:

• Serge Braudo (1980)
• J.R. Jones (1983)
• L. Cazendres (1983–85)
• W Kattan (1983)
• Williams (1985–86)
• Coakley (1986–87)
• Amet (1986)
• Gordon Ward (1988–91)
• Edwin Goldsborough (1988–92)
• Peter Heerey (1992)
• Beaumont (1993)
• John von Doussa (1993, 1998–99, 2003)
• Rowan Downing (1993–95)
• Harry Gibbs (1994)
• Robert Kent (1994–95)
• Salatiel Lenalia (1995)
• Vincent Lunabek (1996–2000) (appointed Chief Justice 2001)
• Thorp (1996)
• Kalkot Mataskelekele (1996–98)
• Oliver Saksak (1997–2006)
• Regget Marum MBE (1997–2002)
• Tompkins (1998)
• Muria (1999)
• Roger Coventry (2000–03)
• DJ Carruthers (2003)
• Robertson (2003)
• Fatiaki (2003)
• Coventry (2003)
• PI Treston (2003–06)
• Hamlison Bulu (2003–06)
• Christpher Tuohy (2006–2008)
• Nevin Dawson (2008-2010)
• Robert Spear (2011-2013)
• Stephen Harrop (2014-2015)
• Paul Geoghegan (2016-2017)
• Gus Andre Wiltons (2018-2022
• Viran Molisa Trief (2019–)

References

1. "Vanuatu Magistrates Bench Book" (PDF). Pacific Judicial Education Programme. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
2. Dinnen, Sinclair (November 2010). A Kind of Mending: Restorative Justice in the Pacific Islands. ANU E Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-921666-82-7. Retrieved 14 July 2011.