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The Chief Justice of the High Commissioner's Court, more commonly known as the Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific, was the chief judicial officer throughout the British Western Pacific Territories from 1877 through 1976. This was a supra-colonial entity established by the ''Western Pacific Orders-in-Council 1877'' (amended in 1879 and 1880), and by the ''Pacific Order-in-Council 1893''.〔"B. (1.) The Chief Justice and every other judge for the time being of the Supreme Court, shall be, by virtue of his office, a Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific for the purposes of this Order, and is in this Order referred to as a Judicial Commissioner. (2.) Where, in the opinion of the High Commissioner, the attendance of a Judicial Commissioner holding office as aforesaid is impracticable, or would be inconvenient, the High Commissioner may from time to time in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty, by writing under his hand and seal, appoint a person of legal knowledge and experience to be a Judicial Commissioner for particular purposes or for a particular time. (''The London Gazette'', 8 September 1893 (26439), pp. 5119-5121 ).〕 Headed by a High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, who was also ''ex officio'' the Governor of Fiji, until the end of 1952, it included numerous islands, mostly small, throughout Oceania. Composition varied over time, but Fiji (1877-1952) and the Solomon Islands (1893-1976) were its most durable members. From 1877 through 1961, the Chief Justice of Fiji was ''ex officio'' Chief Judicial Commissioner, apart from a three-year suspension of the High Commission from 1942 through 1945 during the War in the Pacific, when many of Britain's colonies sin Oceania were under either military administration or Japanese occupation. Appeals lay to the Privy Council in London. From the beginning of 1953, Fiji and Tonga were separated from the High Commission as a prelude to full independence, and the High Commission offices were transferred to Honiara on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, with the Governor of the Solomon Islands now being the High Commissioner ''ex officio''. The High Commissioner's Court, however, continued to meet in Suva, with the Chief Justice of Fiji continuing as Chief Judicial Commissioner for another decade, until 1962, when the two offices were separated. Under the Western Pacific (Courts) Order in Council, gazetted on 15 August 1961 and effective from 9 April 1962, the High Commissioner's Court was renamed the High Court of the Western Pacific and relocated to the Solomon Islands. The court consisted of a Chief Justice (as the office of Chief Judicial Commissioner was renamed — no longer the Chief Justice of Fiji) and two puisne judges, one based in Port Vila, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), and the other in Tarawa, Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati and Tuvalu). 〔Justice Gordon Ward (2005) (''Achieving effective legal representation in small Pacific island Commonwealth States'' ). Commonwealth Law Conference, London, September 2005〕 Most of the island groups had gained either independence or internal self-government 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. The High Commission of the Western Pacific was abolished, the last archives being finally packed up in Honiara in August 1978.〔(【引用サイトリンク】work=Ameliapedia ) Retrieved 19 November 2013.〕 A remnant of the High Commission was the right of appeal from the courts of many island nations to the Fijan Court of Appeal, which persisted into the late 1970s. 〔Justice Gordon Ward (2005) (''Achieving effective legal representation in small Pacific island Commonwealth States'' ). Commonwealth Law Conference, London, September 2005〕 ==List of Chief Judicial Commissioners == 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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