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Commissions of Inquiry Act 1968

NIUE LAWS
LEGISLATION AS AT DECEMBER 2006

COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY ACT 1968

1968/50 – 1 October 1968

1. Short title

2. Interpretation

3. Cabinet may appoint Commissions of Inquiry

4. Members of Commissions protected

5. Commissioners’ powers

6. Persons interested entitled to be heard at inquiry

7. Service of summons

8. Protection of witnesses and counsel

9. Witnesses’ allowances

10. Payment of witnesses’ allowances

11. Non-attendance of witness

12. Reference of point of law to Court

13. Power to award costs

14. Enforcing orders for costs

15. Powers of Judges when Commissioners

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1 Short title

This is the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1968.

2 Interpretation

In this Act –

"ship" means every description of vessel used in navigation however propelled.

3 Cabinet may appoint Commissions of Inquiry

(1) Cabinet may appoint any person or persons (including a member of Cabinet) to be a Commission to inquire into and report upon any question arising out of or concerning –

(a) The administration of the Government; or

(b) The working of any existing law; or

(c) The necessity of expedience of any legislation; or

(d) The conduct of any officer in the service of the Crown; or

(e) Any disaster or accident including any shipping casualty (whether due to natural causes or otherwise) in which members of the public were killed or injured or were or might have been exposed to risk of death or injury.

(2) For the purpose of subsection (1) (e), a shipping casualty shall be deemed to occur –

(a) When on or near the coast of Niue any ship is lost, abandoned, stranded or materially damaged or has been in collision with any ship; or

(b) When any loss of life ensues by reason of any casualty occurring to any ship on or near the coast of Niue; or

(c) When in any place any such loss, abandonment, stranding, material damage, or casualty as aforesaid occurs, and any witness is found in Niue; or

(d) When in any place any such loss, abandonment, stranding, material damage, or casualty as aforesaid occurs or is supposed to have occurred to any ship registered in Niue under the provisions of any law made in that behalf and for the time being in force; or

(e) When any ship proceeds to sea from any harbour in Niue and is lost or is supposed to have been lost and any evidence is obtainable in Niue as to the circumstances under which she proceeded to sea or was last heard of.

4 Members of Commissions protected

So long as any member of any such Commission acts bona fide in the discharge of his duties, no action shall lie against him for anything he may report or say in the course of the inquiry.

5 Commissioners’ powers

Every such Commission shall for the purpose of the inquiry have the power and status of a Judge of the Court in respect of citing parties interested in the inquiry, summoning witnesses, administering oaths, hearing evidence, and conducting and maintaining order at the inquiry.

6 Persons interested entitled to be heard at inquiry

Any person interested in the inquiry shall, if he satisfies the Commission that he has an interest in the inquiry apart from any interest in common with the public, be entitled to appear and be heard at the inquiry as if he had been cited as a party to the inquiry.

7 Service of summons

Every summons to a witness shall be served either by delivering the same to the person summoned or by leaving the same at his usual place of abode within a reasonable time before his attendance is required.

8 Protection of witnesses and counsel

Every witness attending and giving evidence in pursuance of any such summons, and every counsel appearing before any Commission, shall have the same privileges and immunities as witnesses and counsel in the Court.

9 Witnesses’ allowances

(1) Every witness attending in pursuance of any such summons shall be entitled to expenses for travelling and maintenance during his absence from his usual place of abode under the scale allowed to witnesses in civil cases by the rules of the Court.

(2) Persons prosecuting any claim before a Commission shall not be entitled to be paid any money under this section.

10 Payment of witnesses’ allowances

(1) Where the Commission has obtained the authority in writing of the Resident Commissioner for summoning any witness, the expenses of that witness shall, if certified by the Chairman of the Commission be paid by the Treasurer out of the Niue Government Account.

(2) In every other case the person requiring the evidence of any witness shall, before the summons is issued, deposit with the Commission such sum of money as the Commission deems sufficient, and the expenses of the witness shall be paid out of the sum so deposited.

11 Non-attendance of witness

(1) Every person who, after being duly summoned to attend before the Commission, or to produce to it any books, papers, writings or documents –

(a) Fails to appear under the exigency of such summons; or

(b) Refuses to be sworn or to give evidence, or to make answer to such questions as may be put to him by the Commission or any member thereof touching the subject of the inquiry; or

(c) Fails to produce any such books, papers, writings, or documents; is liable for every such default to a fine not exceeding 0.5 penalty units.

(2) No person so summoned shall be liable to any such fine unless at the time of the service of the summons there was made to him a payment or a tender of his travelling expenses, according to the scale allowed to witnesses in civil cases by the rules of the Court.

12 Reference of point of law to Court

(1) Subject to section 15 the Commission may refer any disputed point of law arising in the course of an inquiry to the Court for decision, and for this purpose may either conclude the inquiry subject to such decision or may at any stage of the inquiry adjourn it until after the decision has been given.

(2) The question shall be in the form of a special case to be drawn up by the parties (if any) to the inquiry, and, if the parties do not agree or if there are no parties, to be settled by the Commission.

(3) The decision of the Court shall be final and binding upon all parties to the inquiry and upon the Commission.

13 Power to award costs

(1) The Commission, upon the hearing of an inquiry, may order that the whole or any portion of the costs of the inquiry or of any party thereto shall be paid by any of the parties to the inquiry, or by all or any of the persons who have procured the inquiry to be held.

(2) No such order shall be made against any person who has not been cited as a party or authorised by the Commission, pursuant to section 6 to appear and be heard at the inquiry or summoned to attend and give evidence at the inquiry.

14 Enforcing orders for costs

For the purpose of enforcing any order of the Commission for the payment of costs, a duplicate of such order may be filed by the person to whom the costs are payable in any office of the Court and shall thereupon be enforceable in all respects as a final judgment of that Court in its civil jurisdiction.

15 Powers of Judges when Commissioners

(1) In every case where under this Act, or any other enactment Cabinet appoints one or more Judges of the Court to be members of a Commission for the purpose of holding an inquiry, every such Judge, and the Commission of which he is a member, shall for all the purposes of such inquiry, have the same powers, privileges and immunities as are possessed by a Judge of the High Court in the exercise of its civil jurisdiction.

(2) For the purpose of enforcing any order made by such Commission the order shall, as soon as conveniently may be after the making thereof, be drawn up and signed by the Chairman (whose signatures and status shall be judicially noticed), and may be filed in any office of the Court, whereupon the order shall be enforceable in the same manner as a final judgment of the Court in civil proceedings.