Substantial justice
Subtitle: an anthropology of village courts in Papua New Guinea
By: Michael Goddard.
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 311
ISBN-13: 9781845455613
Subjects: District courts -- Papua New Guinea
Description: "Papua New Guinea's village court system was introduced in 1974, partly in an effort to overcome the legal, geographical, and social distance between village societies and the country's formal courts. There are now more than 1100 village courts all over PNG, hearing thousands of cases each week. This anthropological study is grounded in ethnographic research on three different village courts and the communities they serve. It also explores the colonial historical background of the establishment of the village court system, and the local and global processes influencing the efforts of village courts to deal with everyday disputes among grassroots Melanesians."
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Colonial law : an extended prelude to the village courts; title: The administration of village courts; title: Village courts on trial; title: Three village courts and their social environments; title: Village court politics; title: Pari village court in action; title: Konedobu village court in action; title: Erima village court in action; title: Between groups and individuals.