Pacific Law Online

~ an initiative of the Emalus Campus Library to provide access to secondary materials relating to Pacific law ~

Pacific Law Pathfinder

Planning an efficient research process involves knowing the resources which are available to help you find the law. Constitutions, legislation and cases are known as primary sources of law. Custom is another primary source of law in some South Pacific jurisdictions.  The Emalus library has the most complete collection of Pacific primary law materials in the world.  Full details of its holdings, as well as links to selected materials available in full text, can be browsed by jurisdiction from the page Pacific Law Materials on the Emalus web site.

To have an awareness and knowledge of the contexts within which Pacific Island legal systems are located and operate,  a depth of contextual knowledge and understanding is also required that includes not only  analysis of the legal frameworks operating in the Pacific but also of the social, cultural and historical contexts in which they are placed. The Pacific Law Pathfinder has been prepared to assist staff and students in locating resources on Pacific law 'in context' . 

Pacific Law Journal Index   

The Pacific Law Journal Index is a  browsable database of Pacific Law articles.  The first phase of the project was to identify law articles about countries of the USP Region up until 1990 using Jacqui Elliot's'  Pacific Law Bibliography 2ed. 1990.  The second phase of the project was to update the index by using 'Wilsons Index to Legal Periodicals Online, the University of Hawaii Pacific Journal Index and 'Agis Plus Text'.

The following countries are covered in the index. 

Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Micronesia (including Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands), Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

Pacific Law Links

An update list of Pacific law related internet links.

Quick search - Emalus Library Pacific Law books / articles

Keyword search and subject browse options available to search the holdings of the Emalus Campus library.

Pacific Law Materials /  Paclii

Online judgments and legislation from the Pacific region.