ABSTRACT
As discussed in Chapters 1 and 2, none of the Pacific Island countries of the University of the South Pacific Region1 rejected existing laws outright at independence.2 Instead, existing laws were ‘saved’. This was intended to be a transitional step, to avoid a vacuum pending the creation of ‘local’ laws by the new legislature. Saved laws included: • legislation in force in England (and, in some cases, its former colonies of
• common law and equity; and • ‘colonial’ legislation (made by the legislature of the country before
independence).
