Commercial Law in the South Pacific

This book provides a detailed examination of the core areas of commercial law in common law jurisdictions across a range of South Pacific countries: Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Niue, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Commerce is an area of central importance to the South Pacific region. Although the countries in question are small it is widely acknowledged that their need to promote and develop commercial enterprise is crucial for their future sustainability. With a focus on case law and legislative provisions in individual jurisdictions, it sets out the framework of legal principles that regulate commercial activity within the South Pacific region, highlighting the common patterns and principal differences between countries of the region. It includes a discussion of PACER Plus, post-Cotonou discussions and the EU-OACPS Partnership Agreement as well as key amendments and challenges to commercial law in the region. It explores the legal structures of commerce, control and management of commercial entities, banking and transactions and termination. Importantly, the book has two new chapters, on digital currency and e-commerce in the South Pacific, reflecting the increasing use of technology in financial and commercial transactions.

Offering a detailed analysis of the legal principles that regulate commercial activity within the South Pacific region, this book will be a useful resource for students, academics and practitioners working on commercial law in the South Pacific region.

Mohammed Lawal Ahmadu is Vice Chancellor at Rayhaan University, Birnin Kebbi. As Professor of Law with research interests in information technology, commercial, corporate and human rights laws, amongst others, he is widely published locally and internationally, and has engaged in numerous international consultancy. He had also served as Professor of Law and Director of the Institute of Justice and Applied Legal Studies and earlier as Assistant to the Head of School at the University of the South Pacific (USP), School of Law in Oceania. During his time at USP, he wrote the first edition to Commercial Law and Practice in the South Pacific with the late Professor Robert A Hughes. He also held the position of Pro Vice Chancellor, Emalus Campus, USP.

Bridget Fa’amatuainu is a Lecturer in Law, teaching Pacific Law and Indigenous Private Law at AUT. Bridget is committed to engaging in critical legal, queer and feminist scholarship to elevate the voice and lived experiences of gender diverse communities, seeking to unravel and transform laws. Bridget’s research and supervision interests include law reform with an emphasis on pacific (eg Talanoa) and indigenous research methodology and theory in gender and equity legal research, private law and decolonial legal pedagogy.