ABSTRACT
State laws are laws made by organs of the state, as distinct from customary laws which are made by traditional customary social institutions. In all countries of the region the laws of the state consist of the constitution (or constituent laws in the case of Tokelau),1 legislation, subsidiary legislation, and common law and equity. Some of these state laws were made during the colonial period by the colonising states and have been accepted and retained in the former colonised territories when they became independent and self-governing states. Many state laws have been made locally by organs of the state, both before and after independence or self-governance. So essentially state laws include both laws made by the current state and laws made by the colonising states and retained by the current states, but to an increasing extent, state laws are laws that have been made by the state since independence or self-governance.
