Legal Innovation in Papua New Guinea

巴布亚新几内亚的法律创新

• 批准号: ES/J012300/1
• 负责人: Michael Fischer
• 金额: $ 18.85万
• 依托单位: University of Kent
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FJ012300%2F1
• 关键词: Legal; Innovation; Papua; New; Guinea

Papua New Guinea's system of Village Courts, initiated at the country's independence in 1975, provide a valuable test case in the integration of less formal, local-level adjudication forums within a formal legal structure. The courts were designed to provide rural communities with access to the legal system, and also to provide this access in a form that would suit local sensibilities, for instance by placing less emphasis on a distinction between civil and criminal cases.In the 35 years that have passed since their inauguration, Village Courts have undergone some important developments and transformations, not all of them welcomed by the legal establishment of Papua New Guinea. Village Courts have appeared in cities and towns. They have begun to hear cases outside of their jurisdiction, such as land claims and murder trials. They take very seriously the widespread concern in the country about witchcraft and sorcery, which cannot be legally recognised in the higher courts. The services of so-called 'bush lawyers' with no formal qualifications have arisen, when Village Courts were intended to be free from the interference of lawyers or other legal specialists. These and other irregularities in Village Court practice are seen by legal elites in the country as signs that the system is in trouble, and is in need of bringing back into line with the courts' proper functioning as delineated in their original remit.This project proposes instead to regard the developments in the Village Courts as signs of a system that is doing precisely what it was supposed to do: to fulfill locally-determined desires for justice and adjudication. That it has adapted to different needs in different parts of this extremely diverse country is an indication that the flexibility of the Village Courts is something to be examined as an indication that Papua New Guinea's legal system is one in which the delivery of justice is not always designed in a top-down fashion from the centre, but can and does develop organically at the grassroots level.In order to do this, the project will draw on the skills of two anthropologists with longstanding research interests in the operation of Papua New Guinea's legal system, with the assistance of students from the University of Papua New Guinea who will contribute knowledge of local languages (the country boasts some 800 languages) as well as local variations in social organisation and cultural values. The project team will conduct the first broad survey of Village Court practice since the 1970s, with an eye to documenting precisely how the courts have adapted to local needs and sensibilities since their inception.The significance of this research is twofold. Firstly, Papua New Guinea is a country that is chronically at pains to divest itself of the reputation of being a 'failed state' with non-functioning instruments of civil society. The project offers a re-framing of Village Court innovations from indicating a breakdown of the legal system to indicating that the legal system is adapting in necessary - and highly functional - ways. Secondly, there is a burgeoning interest internationally in informal or community-oriented systems of justice delivery and adjudication. From the reconciliation commissions that have sprung up in the wake of conflicts around the world, to the adoption of restorative justice alternatives in the British criminal justice system, the operation and development of informal courts in one part of the world has profound implications for how courts and other forms of justice delivery can develop elsewhere. Papua New Guinea has inherited the essential structure and tenets of its legal system from the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth states. The way its own courts have developed since independence offer a model for how the delivery of justice and equity can adapt to local sensibilities in common law jurisdictions throughout the world.

巴布亚新几内亚在1975年独立时建立的乡村法院制度，为将不太正式的地方一级裁决论坛纳入正式的法律的结构提供了宝贵的试验案例。设立法院的目的是为农村社区提供诉诸法律的系统的机会，并以适合当地感受的方式提供这种机会，例如，不太强调民事案件和刑事案件之间的区别，在自成立以来的35年里，乡村法院经历了一些重要的发展和变革，并非所有这些都受到巴布亚新几内亚法律的建立的欢迎。在城市和城镇中出现了乡村法庭。他们已开始审理其管辖范围以外的案件，如土地索赔和谋杀案审判。他们非常认真地对待国内对巫术和巫术的广泛关注，因为这些巫术和巫术在法律上不能得到高等法院的承认。当乡村法院不受律师或其他法律的专家的干预时，出现了没有正式资格的所谓“丛林律师”的服务。乡村法院的这些做法和其他违规行为被该国的法律的精英们视为该制度有问题的迹象，需要使其恢复到法院原来职权范围内规定的适当职能，本项目建议将乡村法院的发展视为一个制度正在做它应该做的事情的迹象：以满足当地对正义和裁决的渴望。它适应了这个极其多样化的国家不同地区的不同需要，这表明乡村法院的灵活性值得研究，这表明巴布亚新几内亚的法律的制度并不总是从中央以自上而下的方式设计司法，而是能够而且确实在基层一级有机地发展。该项目将利用两名人类学家的技能，这两名人类学家长期以来一直对巴布亚新几内亚的法律的制度的运作有着浓厚的研究兴趣，同时还将得到来自巴布亚新几内亚大学的学生的帮助，这些学生将提供有关当地语言（该国拥有约800种语言）以及当地社会组织和文化价值观差异的知识。该项目小组将对乡村法院的做法进行自1970年代以来的首次广泛调查，目的是准确记录法院自成立以来如何适应当地的需求和情感。首先，巴布亚新几内亚是一个长期以来一直在努力摆脱“失败国家”的名声的国家，民间社会的工具没有发挥作用。该项目提供了对乡村法院创新的重新构建，从表明法律的系统崩溃到表明法律的系统正在以必要的-高度实用的-方式进行调整。第二，国际上对非正式或面向社区的司法和审判系统的兴趣正在迅速增长。从世界各地冲突后涌现的和解委员会到英国刑事司法系统采用恢复性司法替代办法，世界某个地区非正式法院的运作和发展对其他地区法院和其他司法形式的发展具有深远的影响。巴布亚新几内亚从联合王国和其他英联邦国家继承了其法律的制度的基本结构和原则。自独立以来，其法院的发展方式为世界各地普通法司法管辖区如何根据当地的敏感性来实现公正和公平提供了一个模式。

项目成果

Unequal Lives: Gender, Race and Class in the Western Pacific

不平等的生活：西太平洋地区的性别、种族和阶级

• DOI: 10.22459/ue.2020.04
• 发表时间: 2021
• 作者: Demian M

Court in Between: The Spaces of Relational Justice in Papua New Guinea

法院之间：巴布亚新几内亚的关系正义空间

• DOI: 10.1080/13200968.2016.1191118
• 发表时间: 2016
• 期刊: Australian Feminist Law Journal
• 影响因子: 0.5
• 作者: Demian M

Overcoming Operational Constraints in Papua New Guinea's Remote Rural Village Courts: A Case Study Legal Innovation: Part 3

克服巴布亚新几内亚偏远乡村法院的运作限制：案例研究法律创新：第 3 部分

• 发表时间: 2014
• 作者: Demian M

Internet of Things and Advanced Application in Healthcare -

物联网及医疗保健高级应用 -

• DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1820-4.ch009
• 发表时间: 2017
• 作者: Applin S

Watching Me, Watching You. (Process surveillance and agency in the workplace)

看着我，看着你。

• DOI: 10.1109/istas.2013.6613129
• 发表时间: 2013
• 作者: Applin S