This volume, the latest in the Laws of the South Pacific Series is published under the auspices of USP and the Institute of Justice and Applied Legal Studies. Previous texts have tackled the fields of Criminal Law, Torts and Civil Procedure. This enterprise is perhaps the boldest yet as it ventures into terrain where the prescriptions of custom and state law often contrast so starkly that the dissection and elucidation of all the issues is a formidable task.
Any work dedicated to a round-up of the laws of various jurisdictions is fraught with danger.
In the Pacific these dangers are compounded as not only do the countries in the region have differing colonial histories but also vary in their ethnic, linguistic and cultural make-up. Succession is concerned with the personal law of the individual and in the Pacific this personal law is almost exclusively customary. The problems of approach this poses for any writer are immense. If so this diminishes the value of the final product as a true reflection of Pacific jurisprudence. This is to plunge into territory that is largely uncharted and which is beyond the competence of most lawyers.