Legal Models and Methods of Western Colonisation of the South Pacific

Abstract

This article addresses the legal models and methods used by the Western powers to colonise the South Pacific. It first focuses on the informal empire in the last third of the nineteenth century and up to World War I. This is the period in which control is gained by the Western powers but responsibility averted since in most cases sovereignty over the territories concerned is not yet acquired. The legal models established for gaining control – culminating notably in the creation of colonial protectorates and only later annexation – were to some extent the same as those established elsewhere in the globe. But the legal methods used by the British (for whom the Empire had become an ‘intolerable nuisance’) and to a lesser extent the United States (ideologically averse to colonisation) in order to establish initial control, stand out because of the way that each projected their municipal laws; in the case of the British with the humanitarian purpose of ending human trafficking. The second focus of this article is on the more innovative regimes used to colonise the Pacific island territories in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, more specifically those involving joint governance. The condominium emerges as a model of choice to manage disputes between the powers and its use was principally to address their geo-strategic concerns both in the region and globally. Entrenching earlier trends, a tradition of joint governance would later continue into the twentieth century with remarkable similarities to what preceded it. This article serves as a reminder of the subtle and complex ways in which the law can be instrumentalised to give effect to colonisation. It is timely given the increasing concern today over foreign interference in the South Pacific.