Solomon Islands Independence Order 1978
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1978/783 |
| Year | 1978 |
1978 No. 783
PACIFIC ISLANDS
The Solomon Islands Independence Order 197831stMay 1978
8thJune 1978
7thJuly 1978
At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 31st day of May 1978
Present,
The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council
Her Majesty, by virtue and in exercise of the powers in that behalf by the Foreign Jurisdiction Act 1890(a) or otherwise in Her Majesty vested, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:—
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Solomon Islands Independence Order 1978.
Citation and commencement.
(2) This Order shall be published in the Gazette and shall come into operation on the appointed day:
Provided that sections 4(2) and 6 of this Order shall come into operation forthwith.
2.—(1) In this Order—
Interpretation.
"the appointed day" means 7th July 1978;
"the Constitution" means the Constitution set out in the Schedule to this Order;
"the existing Constitution" means the Constitution set out in the Schedule to the British Solomon Islands Order 1974 (b) as amended by the British Solomon Islands (Amendment) Order 1975(c), the British Solomon Islands (Name of Territory) Order 1975(d), the Solomon Islands Courts Order 1975(e), the Solomon Islands (Amendment) Order 1975(f), the Solomon Islands (Amendment) Order 1976(g), and the Solomon Islands (Amendment) Order 1977(h);
"the existing laws" means any Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Orders of Her Majesty in Council, Ordinances, rules, regulations, orders or other instruments having effect as part of the law of Solomon Islands (whether or not they have been brought into operation) immediately before the appointed day but does not include any Order revoked by this Order;
(a) 1890 c. 37.
(b) S.I. 1974/1262.
(c) S.I. 1975/807.
(d) S.I. 1975/808.
(e) S.I. 1975/1511.
(f) S.I. 1975/1832.
(g) S.I. 1976/422.
(h) S.I. 1977/590.
"the existing Legislative Assembly" means the Legislative Assembly established by the existing Constitution;
"the existing Orders" means the Orders revoked by section 3(1) of this Order.
(2) The provisions of sections 133(2), 139, 144 and 145 of the Constitution shall apply for the purposes of interpreting sections 1 to 14 of this Order and otherwise in relation thereto as they apply for the purpose of interpreting and in relation to the Constitution.
3.—(1) The British Solomon Islands Order 1974, the British Solomon Islands (Amendment) Order 1975, the British Solomons Islands (Name of Territory) Order 1975, the Solomon Islands Courts Order 1975, the Solomon Islands (Appeals to Privy Council) Order 1975(a), the Solomon Islands (Amendment) Order 1975, the Solomon Islands (Amendment) Order 1976, and the Solomon Islands (Amendment) Order 1977 are revoked.
Revocations.
(2) The Emergency Powers Order in Council 1939(b) and any Order in Council amending that Order shall cease to have effect as part of the law of Solomon Islands on the appointed day.
4.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Order, the Constitution shall come into effect in Solomon Islands on the appointed day.
Establishment of Constitution.
(2) The Governor (as defined for the purposes of the existing Constitution) may at any time after this subsection comes into operation exercise any of the powers conferred upon the Governor-General by section 5 of this Order or by the Constitution to such extent as may in his opinion be necessary or expedient to enable the Constitution to function as from the appointed day.
5.—(1) The revocation of the existing Orders shall be without prejudice to the continued operation of any existing laws made, or having effect as if they had been made, under any of those Orders; and the existing laws shall have effect on and after the appointed day as if they had been made in pursuance of the Constitution and shall be construed with such modifications, adaptations, qualifications and exceptions as may be necessary to bring them into conformity with the Solomon Islands Act 1978(c) and this Order.
Existing laws.
(2) Where any matter that falls to be prescribed or otherwise provided for under the Constitution by Parliament or by any other authority or person is prescribed or provided for by or under an existing law (including any amendment to any such law made under this section) or is otherwise prescribed or provided for immediately before the appointed day by or under the existing Orders that prescription or provision shall, as from that day, have effect (with such modifications, adaptations, qualifications and exceptions as may be necessary to bring it into conformity with the Solomon Islands Act 1978 and this Order) as if it had been made under the Constitution by Parliament or, as the case may require, by the other authority or person.
(a) S.I. 1975/1510.
(b) See S.I. 1952 I, p. 621.
(c) 1978 c. 15.
(3) The Governor-General may, by order published in the Gazette, at any time before 31st December 1978 make such amendments to any existing law (other than the Solomon Islands Act 1978 or this Order) as may appear to him to be necessary or expedient for bringing that law into conformity with the provisions of this Order or otherwise for giving effect or enabling effect to be given to those provisions.
(4) An order made under this section may be amended or revoked by Parliament or, in relation to any existing law affected thereby, by any other authority having power to amend, repeal or revoke that existing law.
(5) It is hereby declared, for the avoidance of doubt, that, save as otherwise provided either expressly or by necessary implication, nothing in this Order shall be construed as affecting the continued operation of any existing law.
(6) The provisions of this section shall be without prejudice to any powers conferred by this Order or any other law upon any person or authority to make provision for any matter, including the amendment or repeal of any existing law.
6. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 27(1) of the Constitution, the first Governor-General shall be appointed by Her Majesty in accordance with such address as may have been made to Her before the appointed day by the existing Legislative Assembly, and any such appointment shall take effect as from the appointed day.
First Governor-General.
7.—(1) Any person who immediately before the appointed day holds office as Chief Minister or any other Minister under the existing Constitution shall as from that day hold office as Prime Minister or other Minister, as the case may be, as if he had been elected or appointed thereto under section 33 of the Constitution.
Ministers.
(2) Any person holding office as Prime Minister or other Minister by virtue of the preceding subsection who immediately before the appointed day was assigned responsibility for any business of the Government shall be deemed to have been assigned responsibility for such business under section 37 of the Constitution.
(3) Any person who holds office as Prime Minister or other Minister by virtue of subsection (1) of this section shall be deemed to have complied with the requirements of section 39 of the Constitution.
8. The persons who immediately before the appointed day are the Leader of the Official Opposition and the Leader of the Independent Members (as defined for the purposes of the existing Constitution) shall as from that day hold office respectively as Leader of the Official Opposition and Leader of the Independent Members as if they had been appointed thereto under section 66 of the Constitution.
Leaders of Official Opposition and of Independent Members.
9.—(1) Until such time as it is otherwise provided under section 54 of the Constitution, Solomon Islands shall be divided into thirty-eight constituencies the respective boundaries of which shall be the same as those prescribed in the Electoral Provisions (Legislative Assembly) Regulations 1976 for the thirty-eight electoral districts established by those Regulations.
Parliament.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in sections 47 and 54 of the Constitution, Parliament shall, until it is first dissolved, consist of thirty-eight members, and any person who immediately before the appointed day is an elected member of the existing Legislative Assembly shall on that day become a member of Parliament (whether or not he becomes a citizen of Solomon Islands on that day) and shall be deemed to have complied with the requirements of section 63 of the Constitution and shall hold his seat in Parliament in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
(3) Any person who immediately before the appointed day holds the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the existing Legislative Assembly shall on that day become the Speaker or, as the case may be, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and shall hold office as such in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
(4) The rules and orders of the existing Legislative Assembly as in force immediately before the appointed day shall, except as may be otherwise provided under section 62 of the Constitution, have effect after the appointed day as if they had been made under that section but shall be construed with such modifications, adaptations, qualifications and exceptions as may be necessary to bring them into conformity with this Order.
(5) Notwithstanding anything in section 73(3) of the Constitution, Parliament shall, unless sooner dissolved, stand dissolved on 1st June 1980.
10.—(1) Every person who immediately before the appointed day holds or is acting in a public office shall, as from that day, hold or act in that office or the corresponding public office established by the Constitution as if he had been appointed to do so in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and shall be deemed to have taken any oaths required upon such appointment by any existing law:
Public officers.
Provided that any person who under the existing Constitution or any existing law would have been required to vacate office at the...
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