ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the various methods that have been adopted for resolving disputed claims to property in island countries of the South Pacific. The main methods that will be discussed are traditional processes that are chiefly decisions, the use of physical violence and conciliation; introduced institutions, that is, government administrators, commissions, ordinary courts, modified ordinary courts, special courts, tribunals; and combinations of methods. Before the advent of European control of South Pacific island countries, the powers of the chiefs in most island countries included the power to decide which members of their tribes were the true owners of property, both movable and immovable. The effect of the establishment of institutions to resolve claims to property was to greatly reduce the scope for chiefly decisions. The Village Fono Act 1990 provides that the chiefs of villages exercise jurisdiction in accordance with the custom and usage of the village, with appeals to the Land and Titles Court.
