CCPR/C/58/Add.6 page 134
H.
PITCAIRN
1.
1. General
The sovereignty of the United Kingdom over the Pitcairn Islands was restated and continued by the Pitcairn Order 1970, which made new provisions for its administration. Section 4 provides for the appointment of a Governor with powers and duties conferred on him by the Order or any other law and further as may be assigned to him by Her Majesty from time to time. The Governor has authority by section 5 to make laws "for the peace, order and good government of the Islands". Any such law may be disallowed by
Her Majesty acting under section 6 of the Order through a Secretary of State. The Order confers further specific powers on the Governor of appointment of officers, disciplinary powers and the exercise of the prerogative of mercy.
2.
The Pitcairn Royal Instructions 1970 are binding directions to the Governor, in particular reserving certain important legislative subjects to the prior approval of a Secretary of State except in case of urgent necessity. The Royal Instructions further provide that any law made by the Governor shall be forthwith sent through a Secretary of State with an explanation of the reasons and occasion for making it for consideration of its disallowance or non-disallowance.
3. The Judicature Ordinance, a law made by the Governor under section 5 of the Pitcairn Order, establishes a Supreme Court of Judicature and a subordinate court for the Islands. Section 14 of the Ordinance applies the rules of equity and statutes of general application in force in England on 1 January 1983 to the Islands so far as local circumstances and the limits of local jurisdiction permit, and subject to any existing or future local ordinances.
4. The local ordinances in force in Pitcairn are collected and published in the Revised Edition of the Laws, 1985. These are freely available at a moderate cost. A local law may be challenged on the grounds that it is ultra vires the lawmaking authority in section 5 of the Pitcairn Order 1970. A statute of the Parliament of the United Kingdom taken to be in force in Pitcairn may be challenged on the ground that it is not so applied by section 14 of the Judicature Ordinance. A challenge to the validity of a Pitcairn law in either of these ways could be raised in the courts of Pitcairn or the High Court of Justice in Britain.
5.
The obligations assumed under article 2, paragraph 2, of the Covenant are fulfilled by the application to Pitcairn of the law in force in England other than that provided by local legislation. As in the case of the
United Kingdom, the legal rules concerning human rights and freedoms are not embodied in any single constitutional or legal instrument or series of instruments but derive from legislation and the general body of English case law, which affords enforceable legal recognition of laws, instruments and principles as they have been established in England.
6. No steps have been found to be necessary to achieve harmony between the law in force in Pitcairn and the provisions of the Covenant. There has never been and it is considered that there could never be any case of conflict between the Covenant and the domestic law of Pitcairn. There are no judicial
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