Fiji: Court of Appeal Judges Resign En Masse

For the past fifty years, the bench of the Fiji Court of Appeal has been comprised of expatriate judges.

On Monday, the six remaining judges for the Court of Appeals turned in resignations to Fiji President Ratu Josefa Iloilo.  The resigning judges issued a statement in which they said that acting Chief Justice Anthony Gates had taken the administration of the court out of their hands by stopping all communication, and that since their services were no longer wanted, their only option was to resign.  Their statement went on to say that "They had served Fiji to the best of their ability, in most cases for many years, and they regretted that a connection they all valued should end in this way."

In response, Justice Gates said that he respected their decision to resign and thanked them for their service to Fiji.  He continued, "I am confident that the Bar and the public will be well served by the appellate courts in the months and years ahead."

For now, High Court judges are sitting on the Court of Appeal, which is allowed under the Fiji constitution.  Fiji Law Society president Devanesh Sharma told Fiji Times that the law only states that a judge who heard a case in a lower court are not expected to hear the same case on appeal.

New Zealand Law Commissioner Helen Aikman believes that the timing of the resignations is unfortunate, though any other time, Fiji would do well to develop a local bench for the Court of Appeals.  She told Radio New Zealand International:

"If it were not for the fact that the judiciary at the moment is completely riven, no reason alone to not have local judges, but I think in these particular circumstances [...] many of [the judges] have a political history, so [there is] all the more need in those circumstances to have people who are impartial from the outside."

For more information, please see:
Fiji Times - Appeal judges resign over Gates' actions - 03 September 2007
Pacific Magazine - All Court of Appeals Justices Resign - 03 September 2007
Radio New Zealand International - Six remaining expatriate judges of Fiji Appeal Court resign their warrants - 03 September 2007
Fiji Times - Judges quit over Gates - 04 September 2007
Radio New Zealand International - Fiji appeal court judges quit as they are no longer wanted - 04 September 2007
Radio New Zealand International - Fiji's acting chief justice says appeal court will be fine despite resignations - 04 September 2007