The Joint Court of the New Hebrides was established with the formation
of the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides in 1906,
whereby France and Great Britain agreed by convention to govern this
south west Pacific island archipelago as an area of joint influence
(withour partition). The civil and criminal jurisdiction of the Joint Court
was defined by the Anglo-French Protocol of 1914 (ratified in 1922; see PMB Doc 438)
enhancing the original protocol of 1906. In accordance with Article 12 of the protocol, the Joint Court had
civil and criminal jurisdiction over indigenous New Hebrideans (ni-Vanuatu,
referred to as "Natives" in the protocol), matters involving New
Hebrideans and British and/or French citizens, or those of other
nationality who opted to come under British or French jurisdiction
("optants"), and in matters between French citizens and British subjects.
The joint court had one British and one French judge with a neutral
president who was appointed by the King of Spain, but with the
suspension of the Spanish monarchy in the 1930s, this practice ceased
from that time. In accordance with article 20 of the protocol, the two
administering powers also estabished their own national courts. Each
had jursidiction in civil cases not admissable to the Joint Court and in
criminal cases where the defendant or the plaintiff were of the same
nationality as the court (see PMB Doc 446). The Joint Court
was abolished with ministerial level self-government in 1978 and replaced
with the Supreme Court of the New Hebrides and in turn the Supreme
Court of Vanuatu when the country attained full independence as the
Republic of Vanuatu on 30 July 1980.

Judgements issued by the Joint Court of the New Hebrides from 1911 - 1977.

<P><B>See reel list for further details</B>