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Dennis K. Yamase*
B
oth the Supreme Court and the Congress of the Federated States of
Micronesia (FSM) recognised the need to provide citizens and residents with greater accessibility to the laws of the FSM and other basic legal information. Efforts to do so would promote the rule of law by enhancing transparency and promoting good governance. In an effort to address this vitally important need, both the Supreme Court and the Congress embarked on ambitious projects to provide greater public access to these legal materials over the Internet .
This paper describes the initial development and establishment of two interrelated national government websites which provide the state and national laws, and other basic legal information of the FSM national government and the governments of its four states, Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap. This paper also discusses recent efforts of the Supreme Court and the Congress to maintain, expand, and improve upon the delivery of the legal information on their websites.
It is hoped that discussion of the development and maintenance of these websites will provide useful practical information to other small, developing Pacific island nations, establishing their own legal information systems and public service websites.
The FSM is an independent, sovereign nation admitted to the United
Nations on 17 September 1991. The FSM formed its own constitutional government when the Constitution came formally into effect on 10 May
1979. It is in a relationship of free association with the USA pursuant to
a Compact of Free Association (Compact).1 The FSM was formerly part of the
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 2 under the administration of the US Government pursuant to a United Nations trusteeship agreement.[3]
The FSM comprises approximately 620 small islands in the western
Pacific Ocean lying between the Equator and 14ºN, and 136ºE and
166ºE—about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii and about 1,800 miles north of eastern Australia beyond Papua New Guinea. Sixty to seventy of these islands are inhabited by a total population of about 120,000. While the land area amounts to only approximately 207 square miles 4 the FSM occupies more than a million square miles of Pacific Ocean. Comprising what were formerly known as the Caroline Islands, the FSM ranges from the state of Kosrae 5 furthest to the east, to the state of Pohnpei,6 Chuuk,7 and finally Yap 8 furthest to the west, with an overall length of over 2,000 miles.
The FSM national government and each of the state governments are comprised of three main branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial, whose powers are set forth in their constitutions [9]. Each of the constitutions also recognise traditions and customs, and provide for various forms of traditional leadership.
The executive branch of the national government is headed by the President and a Vice-President,10 while the executive branches of the state governments are headed by governors and lieutenant-governors. The executive branches of the governments have the primary power and responsibility to execute and implement the law of their jurisdictions.
The legislative branches of both the national and the state govern- ments are comprised of unicameral legislatures, except in Chuuk which has a bicameral legislature with a senate and house of representatives. The legislative branches of both the national and state governments, with the exception of Chuuk,11 are headed by a speaker and vice- speaker. The national legislature is known as the Congress of the FSM and comprises fourteen Senators.12 The legislative branches of the nat- ional and state governments have the primary power and responsibility to enact laws.
The judiciaries of the national and the state governments are headed by a chief justice, with varying numbers of associate justices. The national judiciary is known as the Supreme Court of the FSM and is a court of limited jurisdiction with trial and appellate division.13 The judicial branches of the national and state governments have the primary power and responsibility to interpret the laws which fall under their jurisdictions.
The national government has national powers which are those powers expressly delegated to it in the FSM Constitution and powers of such an indisputably national character as to be beyond the power of a state to control.14 These powers include, but are not limited to: foreign affairs; national defence; immigration; citizenship and naturalisation; taxes, duties, and tariffs based on imports; income taxes; regulation of currency, banking, and foreign and interstate commerce; bankruptcy; patents and copyrights; navigation and shipping; the national postal system; the national capital; the national public service; ownership, exploration, and exploitation of natural resources within the marine space beyond twelve miles of island baselines; national elections; and national crimes.
The state governments possess the powers not expressly delegated to the National Government or prohibited to the states.15 These powers include, but are not limited to: protection and promotion of public health; public education and schools; conservation and development of natural resources; systems of social security and public welfare; traditions, customs, and traditional leadership; state elections; appropriation of public funds; and recognition and establishment of local governments.
The FSM legal structure has at its apex the Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia. Beneath this are its public laws enacted by the FSM Congress. These are codified in the Code of the Federated States of Micronesia
(FSM Code).16 The national government is also signatory to various
international treaties. The FSM Congress has rules of procedure which govern the legislative procedure of a particular Congress.17 The FSM Supreme Court has its appellate decisions, selected decisions of the trial division, and selected decisions of the state courts published in its Interim Reporter 18 system which is now in its eleventh volume. The FSM Supreme Court has court rules which govern practice and procedure before the Supreme Court.19 The executive branch of the national government has a register of regulations promulgated by various executive offices, departments, and agencies. In most cases, such regulations, if properly promulgated, have the force and effect of law. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has published Attorney General Opinions which are usually memoranda issuing legal opinions on issues arising before the OAG.
The state governments each have their own constitution and similar rules, regulations, and publications to those set forth above, each state having its own code of laws and corresponding collections of regulations, rules of procedure for the state legislatures and state courts, and state court decisions.20 The Pohnpei Supreme Court has published many of its trial and appellate division decisions in its own Pohnpei Supreme Court Reports.21 The Chuuk State Supreme Court has published some of its appellate division decisions in the Chuuk State Supreme Court Reports.[22]
Development of the Legal Information System of the
FSM Website (http://www.fsmlaw.org/index.htm)
In May, 2001, work began under a technical assistance grant from the
Asian Development Bank (ADB)23 on an Improving Access to Laws
(IAL) project.24 The project’s successful completion was largely due to the foresight and initiative of the Honorable Andon L. Amaraich, Chief Justice of the FSM Supreme Court, who worked to obtain the ADB’s approval and funding support through the FSM National Government.
The IAL project consisted of two parts. One was the legal information
systems (LIS) component and the other a program of community education.25 The LIS component was executed with the coordination and support of the FSM Supreme Court, which was the local executing agency.[26]
The overall objectives of the IAL project were to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of the legal system by making existing and future legal information more available to the general public and by advancing public understanding of the legal system.
For the LIS portion of the IAL project, it was recognised that the entire FSM community would benefit from having greater access to state and national laws and other basic legal reference materials. Residents throughout the FSM, as well as FSM citizens residing, studying, or working abroad would be able to obtain free access to legal material contained on the LIS website. The same free accessibility would be afforded to legal practitioners and policy makers in the USA and attorneys practising law in the FSM, but residing outside, mostly in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and Hawaii.
The LIS website was also expected to be a useful research tool for the national and state governments to compare legislative, regulatory, and judicial approaches to problems. Often circumstances in the states are similar and effective approaches to problems can be found by looking at how another jurisdiction has approached a similar situation. It was also expected that post-secondary education students, especially those studying law or other legal-related topics, would find the LIS website extremely useful for their studies and research.
The specific purposes of the LIS project were: (1) to update existing codes for the FSM, Kosrae, and Yap; (2) to assist in the drafting and/or enactment of codes for Pohnpei and Chuuk; (3) to create an LIS website containing the constitutions, codes, court decisions, court rules, regulations of the FSM and its four states, the Compact of Free Association, and other governmental authority documents; (4) to train local staff to maintain,
expand, and improve upon the website; and (5) create a public education program on accessing information provided on the website.
The ADB contracted the services of an LIS consultant for six months to carry out the LIS project. The consultant needed to have prior experience in codification work and in developing a legal information system website.[27]
The ADB also provided additional support for computer hardware and software, travel within FSM, contractual services for work on the website, printing, and training. The FSM Supreme Court, as the local executing agency, provided office space in the FSM Supreme Court building in Palikir, land transportation, communications, and some secretarial, clerical, and staff support.
The general sequence of work on the LIS project was as follows: (1) visits to the heads of the main branches of the national and state governments, and evaluation of the state of existing legal information; (2) collection and compilation of legal information in computer generated form or hard copy (most was found in word processing form); (3) set up of computer hardware and installation of appropriate software; (4) codification work to update the existing codes of the FSM, Kosrae, and Yap, and creation of a draft code for Chuuk[28]; (5) creation of the main pages of the LIS website;
(6) preparation of material for loading onto the website; (7) loading of material onto the website and creating internal and external links, and anchors; (8) dissemination of information and instruction on the use of the website; and (9) staff training for sustaining and expanding the content on the website. The LIS consultant had prior codification experience in completing the initial Palau National Code in 1986, the initial Yap State Code in 1988, the 1997 revision of the CNMI Code, and the 2000 edition of the FSM Code. The LIS consultant had prior website development experience in assisting with the establishment of the Commonwealth Law Revision Commission website at http://www.cnmilaw.org/ in 1997.
Visits to the heads of the branches of the national and state governments were necessary to inform them about the LIS project and its potential benefits, as well as to ascertain the status, availability, and form of necessary legal documents. Support was solicited from each governmental leader and the names of contact and resource persons were obtained. The government officials contacted were very supportive of the LIS project and some were sought for further involvement in the project as it progressed.
Much of the collection and compilation of laws and legal information took place during the same trip as the initial visitations. Contact or resource
persons who were in direct custody or were responsible for the production of the legal information were requested to provide computer-generated copies, or if they were not available, then hard copies. Computer generated copies were favoured, preferably in Word Perfect or Microsoft Word, as these were in a form which could be easily revised for production of the web pages—though some were only available for Apple Macintosh computers. When hard copy was submitted it had to be scanned, put through optical character reader software, proofread and then revised. This process would more than triple the time needed to process the documents for production of web pages.
An office was established in the FSM Supreme Court building in Palikir, for the LIS project. Three desk top computers, three printers, a sheet feed scanner, and a lap top computer were obtained for the project. Internet connections were established for one computer. Various software was loaded onto the computers for various components of the project.
Codification work included updating and checking the codes for the FSM, Kosrae, and Yap. The Pohnpei State Code was being worked on by the legal staff of the Pohnpei Legislature and did not require updating. The greatest amount of work went into producing a draft Chuuk State Code as there was only a partially completed draft in existence. The process of completing the draft code for Chuuk took more than two months of full time work by the LIS consultant.
The process of producing the draft involved obtaining a hard copy or computer-generated copy of all Chuuk laws enacted since the Truk District Code had been produced in 1970, then organising those laws into various subject matter titles, chapters, and sub-chapters. Numerous revisions to the laws were recommended to update them to reflect the current governmental organisation and to make technical revisions for consistency (e.g. renumbering or relettering subsections, creating new sub- chapters or other subdivisions, etc.). The draft code was then submitted to the leadership of the state of Chuuk for review and for submission to the Chuuk State Legislature for enactment. Draft legislation was provided by the LIS consultant to the legal staff of the Chuuk State Legislature for this purpose.
The LIS consultant created the general design and layout for the LIS website. The website design was kept as simple as possible consistent with the design of other government-sponsored informational websites. The design provided for main subdivisions for the national government and the four state governments, with further subdivisions for the respective constitutions, codes, court rules, court decisions, and regulations of each entity. Other main subdivisions were for the Compact of Free Association, other governmental authority documents, related links, contacts, dis- claimer, and search.
About twenty five per cent of the web pages were produced by the
LIS consultant before it became apparent that further assistance with
processing the legal documents, production of the web pages, and anchoring and linking would be required in order to complete the main objectives of the LIS website within the relatively short six month time frame of the project. The ADB provided funding support to hire further assistance for about six weeks to assist in carrying out the work listed above.[29]
The LIS website was established in November, 2001. When it was
initially completed it included the following substantive material: introductory pages for the national and state governments including brief geographical and government descriptions and a roster of leaders; the constitutions, codes, court rules, court decisions, and a small sample of regulations for each of the national and state governments; the Compact
of Free Association; other governmental authority documents including U.S. Executive Orders, Secretarial Orders of the U.S. Department of Interior; and the United Nations charter and trusteeship agreement and selected U.S. statutes and resolutions.
The court rules for each of the governmental entities included the main rules for civil, criminal and apellate procedure, evidence and admissions. The court decisions were composed of the ten volumes of the FSM Supreme Court Interim Reporter which also contained selected decisions from each of the four states. These decisions comprised 4,886 pages of text. Due to time limitations the LIS project was only able to complete two to three sets of regulations for each governmental entity.
Once the LIS website had been checked on the Internet for internal and external links and anchors, formatting and appearance, and content, the effort to inform the public of its availability was launched. Personal presentations by the LIS consultant were made to the FSM President, Speaker, and Chief Justice, as well as a number of governors, speakers, and justices of the states. Informational letters were sent to the heads of the main branches of the national and state governments, as well as to other national and state governmental leaders. Flyers about the LIS website were posted throughout the FSM. Contacts were made via e-mail to Internet search engines and other related websites so that links could be made to the LIS website.30 Presentations of the LIS website were also made to various interested groups.
Training was provided during the development of the project to selected FSM Supreme Court staff by the LIS consultant. The ADB also provided funding support for a formal training program for website development and maintenance. A week long training workshop was developed and conducted
by the Micronesian Seminar, at its offices in Kolonia, Pohnpei, near the end of the LIS project, for those FSM Supreme Court staff selected to carry on maintenance and expansion of the LIS website
Development of FSM Congress Website
(http://www.fsmcong.org/)
The twelfth FSM Congress took action beginning in April, 2001 to establish its own website. Initially it contracted out for work to produce the FSM Congress website and from this initial contract the general website design, layout, and main web pages were completed. Unfortunately the initial contractor was not able to proceed further and complete the FSM Congress website and get it running on the Internet in 2001.
The design for the FSM Congress website called for it to include public laws and resolutions enacted by the Congress, committee reports, proposed bills and resolutions of the current Congress, journal entries, daily orders of business, committee rosters and hearing schedules, press releases, announcements, description of the legislative process including rules of procedure, background information on the Congress and its current members, historical information of past Congresses and the FSM, and links, contact, mailing list, and search pages.
After a period of inactivity, work on the FSM Congress website was started up again by the LIS consultant in March, 2002. The main work was to draft the text and provide the layout for the introductory, informational, and historical material and create main web pages for the other types of material listed above, which included the creation of tables listing such things as public laws, bills, resolutions, and committee reports. The work further included obtaining computer-generated copies of as many public laws, bills, resolutions, and committee reports as were available, and processing this material by creating Adobe Acrobat PDF documents for each file.31 These PDF files were then linked to the tables.
Work was also done to take and collect photographs of Congress members, staff, chambers, and other facilities for inclusion on the website. Historical photographs of members and staff of past Congresses and members and staff of its predecessor, the Congress of Micronesia—were also gathered for inclusion.
The FSM Congress website was established in April 2002. Initially it contained the following substantive content: introductory material on the FSM Congress; introductory material about the legislative process including the twelfth Congress’s rules of procedure; main pages containing tables with links to 450 public laws from the ninth to the twelfth Congress,
107 congress bills, forty-three congressional resolutions and seventy-eight standing committee reports in PDF format; congressional committee rosters and public hearing schedules; daily orders of business; Congress press releases; background information on each of the members of the twelfth Congress; photographs of the members and rosters of the key staff of each of the previous eleven congresses; a pictorial look back at the Congress of Micronesia; and a chronology of significant events of the FSM.
The LIS consultant worked with several Congress staff who assisted with all facets of the Congress website work. These staff included the assistant public information officer and a proofreader. These staff were selected to continue maintenance and expansion of the website after the departure of the consultant.
The consultant also produced “A Manual for the Maintenance and Expansion of the FSM Congress Website”. This manual contained sections on basic requirements for the website, step-by-step instructions for creating new web pages, editing existing web pages, creating PDF files, uploading pages onto the website, analysing additional material for the website and other recommendations.
Once the FSM Congress website had been checked on the Internet, the effort to inform the public of its availability began. Personal presentations by the LIS consultant were made to the FSM Congress Speaker and other senators. Informational flyers on the FSM Congress website were posted throughout the FSM. Contacts were made via e-mail to Internet search engines and other related websites so that links could be made to the FSM Congress website.
Sustaining the LIS and FSM Congress Websites
The greatest challenge to the continued success of both the LIS and FSM Congress websites will be to maintain and expand the scope of material, and improve upon the delivery of the legal information on them. Much of the material requires no alteration. The websites serve a useful purpose in preserving this material as an archive. But the importance of continued maintenance and expansion was clear in relation to the websites as a whole, and acknowledged at the outset of both projects by the ADB, FSM Supreme Court and Congress. For that reason a training component was included in both website projects. The great concern about both the websites was that they might be established, but might soon lose their reliability because they might not be properly maintained.
While the LIS and FSM Congress websites were developed independently of each other, they are interrelated and complement each other, especially with regard to the presentation of FSM national law. The LIS website contains the FSM Code, while the FSM Congress website contains copies of the public laws listed in the order that they became law. Certain public laws become a part of the FSM Code in the codification process and so
can be accessed on the LIS website in that format. Other public laws, however, such as appropriations laws and other temporary laws do not become part of the FSM Code, but copies of them can be accessed on the Congress website.
Maintenance and Expansion of LIS Website
The LIS website has many components that require maintenance on a regular basis. The main index pages for the national government and each of the four states contain a roster of current national32 or state leaders33 who are either elected or appointed to limited terms. This requires updating of names.
The website also contains constitutions, codes, regulations, court rules, and the Compact of Free Association which are subject to amendment or revision by constitutional conventions, legislatures, executive agencies, courts or governments. Constant monitoring of these amendments or revisions need to be carried out so that the material on the LIS website can be kept as current as possible. Such amendments and revisions can happen at any time and present a significant challenge for monitoring and updating.
The LIS website also contains opinions of the FSM Supreme Court and the four state courts. Court opinions are also issued at any time and the volume can be quite large especially in the case of the FSM Supreme Court. The court opinions on the website are those that have been published in the FSM Supreme Court’s Interim Reporter system. A system of placing slip opinions on the LIS website as soon as possible after their release is needed as there is normally a considerable time between a court decision and its publication in the Interim Reporter.
Legal practitioners and other users will not rely on the website if its content is not kept current. Knowledge of the latest amendments to the constitutions, codes, regulations, court rules and compact are vitally important for the public, the government, and for private legal practitioners. The users of the LIS website would also like to have access to decisions from the courts as soon as they are rendered.
Possible expansion of the LIS website should be planned by prioritising additional material that would be beneficial to include. This would comprise more national and state regulations, state court opinions, state and FSM Supreme Court general court orders, FSM attorney general opinions, information and forms for admission to practise before the FSM Supreme Court and state courts, material to study for the FSM Supreme
Court Bar examination and an expanded listing and more detailed directory of state and national leaders and agencies.
Factors affecting expansion decisions would include the availability of the information in computer-generated format which can easily be converted into web pages or PDF documents for inclusion on the website. Material only available in hard copy requires significant time spent in character recognition scanning and to proofread, revise and convert into web pages or PDF format.
Work could also be carried out to improve upon the delivery of the legal information already on the LIS website. This would include adding links within documents contained on the website, mainly to other legal resource materials on the website. For instance, most court opinions contain numerous references to constitutional provisions, statutes, court rules, and other legal sources. Each of these citations could be linked to the legal material they refer to if it is already included on the website. Additionally internal anchors and links can be made within documents to make navigation easier and more efficient.
Thousands of anchors and links were already established on the LIS website, but thousands of others were not made due to limitations of manpower and time during the initial project. If time permits in the future, there should be a systematic review of the material on the website to prioritise the future addition of more anchors and links.
Maintenance and Expansion of FSM Congress Website The FSM Congress website has many components that require regular maintenance. It contains information on the members, leadership,
committee assignments, and staff of the current Congress. This requires
updating every two years when a new Congress takes office.[34]
The website also contains public laws, resolutions, rules of procedure, committee reports, press releases, journals, daily orders of business, and committee hearing schedules which are subject to change and additions on a frequent basis, especially during sessions of Congress. The daily order of business, committee hearing schedules, and journals could be updated on a daily basis when the Congress is in session. Monitoring of changes or additions needs to be carried out often to keep the material current.
To maintain the FSM Congress website is important since the public cannot and will not rely on it if its content is not kept current. The FSM Congress website was specifically designed to service the public especially when the Congress is in session. The daily order of business and public hearing schedules would inform the public of Congress sessions and hearings. The latest bills, resolutions, committee reports, journals, public laws, and other documents help keep the public informed of the latest
legislative proposals pending before the Congress, and Congressional actions on them. This material should be made available on the website in a timely manner to allow greater public participation and input.
Expansion of the website should be planned by prioritising additional material that could be beneficially added to it. This would include public laws, bills, resolutions, committee reports and journals from past FSM Congresses. The website could also include an expanded directory of state legislatures and other appropriate national and state government departments and agencies to facilitate communication and access to them.
Availability of the information in computer-generated format, easily converted into web pages or PDF documents affects expansion decisions. The older Congress material is not available in computer-generated format and will require significant time to convert into web pages or PDF format.
Hundreds of anchors and links were initially established on the FSM Congress website, but hundreds of others were not made due to limitations of manpower and time. A systematic review of the material on the website could prioritise future addition of anchors and links where time permits.
Sustaining the LIS and FSM Congress Websites Maintaining both websites involves the following fundamental tasks: (1) monitoring changes to material already on the website; (2) monitoring new
material which should be added; (3) collecting the new or revised material
from governments, agencies and other sources; (4) processing this material for updating the websites by adding new web pages and PDF documents;
(5) creating or revising directories, indexes and web pages where necessary;
(6) uploading revised or new web pages and PDF documents as they are completed.
The FSM Supreme Court and FSM Congress have taken two different paths in hopes of achieving the same general sustainability objectives. Each has tailored its efforts to its own unique circumstances and website.
The Supreme Court has created a new position and hired a full time webmaster, while the FSM Congress has sought to train existing Congress staff to handle the webmaster responsibilities. The LIS website requires much greater monitoring of external sources and thus requires more man hours and coordination. For example, monitoring is required of five different sets of constitutions, codes, regulations, court rules and court decisions. The webmaster must stay in communication with over fifteen state and national government branches or entities that could provide amendments or revisions.
On the other hand the Congress website requires updating of mostly Congress-produced documents. These include public laws, resolutions, committee reports, journals and press releases. Less external monitoring and coordination are required.
The efforts of the Supreme Court and the Congress have their own inherent advantages and disadvantages. The FSM Supreme Court sought to create a new permanent position of webmaster, but was only able to obtain funding support for a one year contract position. Efforts to create the permanent position will be ongoing, but the national government’s budget situation for fiscal year 2004 led to a proposal for a ten per cent across the board reduction for each of the branches of the national government. This makes the effort to create a new permanent position a challenging one.
The other disadvantage of having a single webmaster is the possibility of changeover. If the terms of the webmasters do not overlap, then there
is also a problem with who will train the new webmaster. Any changeover would cause a lack of continuity and a loss of institutional memory. Another problem occurs when the webmaster is ill or on leave and there
is no other person to carry out the duties.
The advantage of having a dedicated, full time webmaster is that there
is a person working to maintain and expand the website. For the LIS website this might be critical since the webmaster must make contacts with numerous state and national government entities for information.
A single contact person coordinating this effort might be more effective than several, because there might be little coordination between the several staff with other primary responsibilities, performing webmaster duties on
a part time basis.
The FSM Congress has used several current staff for maintenance and updating, but disruptions have occurred when those staff have to provide their undivided attention to their primary job responsibilities with the Congress. The Congress has used an assistant public information officer and the proofreader as its primary webmasters. During sessions of Congress both of these staff become very busy with their normal job responsibilities which leaves little time for website responsibilities.
This is not an ideal situation, since website-related work peaks during sessions when the daily orders of business, committee hearing schedules, daily journals, bills, resolutions, committee reports and press releases need to be posted on a daily, if not more frequent, basis.
The situation with the FSM Congress webmasters has become more complex because responsibilities have been split between the two staff. The split has caused a division of tasks as a way to share the webmaster responsibilities more equitably. Unfortunately, dividing the work in this way makes website updating dependent upon the availability of both webmasters. When either one is absent the website work may not get completed.
Lack of adequate funding support raises issues concerning the continued free accessibility to the material on both websites. While free public access
is most desirable, if the sustainability of the websites becomes an issue of funding, then alternatives must be explored. An alternative may be to continue to provide free public access to such groups as students and
103
schools, while charging private legal practitioners and others who use the information for profit some minimal fees to cover costs.
Conclusion
The tasks of sustaining the LIS and Congress websites, as well as expanding its content, and making accessing the material more efficient will be a continuing challenge for the FSM Supreme Court and FSM Congress especially in light of ever-tightening budget constraints. While difficult, these tasks are necessary if the legal information systems and websites are to remain viable and be relied upon for basic legal information of the states and the nation. Unfortunately, both the FSM Supreme Court and FSM Congress have yet to develop a sustainability plan that is functioning efficiently and further work is needed to adjust the efforts to provide a consistently reliable plan.
* Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia. From May
[2001] to July 2002 he served as a legal information systems (LIS) consultant. As an LIS consultant for the Asian Development Bank he developed the LIS of the FSM website. He also served as an LIS consultant to the twelfth FSM Congress and completed an
FSM Congress website and assisted the third FSM Constitutional Convention in placing convention proposals and other materials from the Convention onto the website of the FSM Public Information Office.
[1]The FSM entered into a Compact of Free Association with the United States on 3 Nov
[1986]. See Proclamation of President Tosiwo Nakayama, 3 Nov 1986; Proclamation 5564.
[51] Fed. Reg. 40,399, Nov. 3 1986 reprinted in 48 U.S.C.A. 1801 (West 2001). The Compact provides for U.S. economic assistance to the FSM, U.S. defence of the FSM, and other benefits in exchange for U.S. defence and certain other operating rights in the FSM, denial of access to FSM territory by other nations, and other agreements, <http://www. fsmlaw.org/compact/index.htm> .
2 The former trust territory also included what are now the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.
[3] The trusteeship agreement was the United Nations Trusteeship Agreement for the Formerly Japanese Mandated Islands, 18 July 1947, 61 Stat. 3301. The trusteeship agreement was terminated in 1986 <http://www.fsmlaw.org/miscdocs/trustshipagree.htm> .
[4] The geography of the islands varies dramatically with some rising only a few feet above sea level and others having mountains rising to nearly 3,000 feet.
[5] Kosrae was formerly known as Kusaie. Kosrae is the easternmost island in the FSM and is located approximately 600 kilometres southeast of Pohnpei. It is a single mountainous high- island with dense vegetation, fringed with white coral sand beaches.
[6] Pohnpei was formerly known as Ponape. Pohnpei island is the largest in the FSM and is a mountainous high-island with dense vegetation, many rivers and streams, and fringed with mangrove swamps. Pohnpei houses the national capital at Palikir. The State of Pohnpei also includes five other outlying atolls.
[7] Chuuk was formerly known as Truk. Chuuk is comprised of a large lagoon with eleven high mangrove fringed islands, fourteen outlying atolls and low islands surrounding the
lagoon. Chuuk lagoon is located approximately 1,000 kilometres southeast of Guam. Chuuk lagoon is a world renowned wreck diving site as dozens of warships and aircraft were sunk
in the lagoon during a major World War II battle.
[8] Yap is the westernmost state in the FSM and is located almost midway between Guam
and the Republic of Palau. It includes four main islands and some 134 outer islands most of them low-lying atolls. Yap is known for its unusual currency of stone money.
[9] The full text of the constitution of Chuuk can be found at the FSM LIS website at <http:
//www.fsmlaw.org/chuuk/constitution/index.htm>. The full text of the constitution of the State of Kosrae can be found at <http://www.fsmlaw.org/kosrae/constitution/index.htm> . The full text of the constitution of the State of Pohpnei can be found at <http://www. fsmlaw.org/pohnpei/constitution/index.htm> . The full constitution of the State of Yap can be found at <http://www.fsmlaw.org/yap/constitution/index.htm> .
[10] FSM Constitution, art X.
11The Senate of the Legislature of the State of Chuuk is headed by a President and Vice
President and the House of Representatives is headed by a Speaker and Vice Speaker.
[12] FSM Constitution, art IX. Chuuk is represented by six senators, Pohnpei has four senators, and the states of Kosrae and Yap each have two senators.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] The FSM Code was originally enacted in 1982 by Pub. L. No. 2-48 and a 1997 edition was designated by Pub. L. No. 10-25 <http://www.fsmlaw.org/fsm/code/index.htm> .
17 The FSM Congress Rules of Procedure can be accessed on the Congress website at <http:
//www.fsmlaw.fm/aboutleg.htm>.
[18] The Federated States of Micronesia Supreme Court Interim Reporter (cited as ____FSM Intrm.
[Division or State; Year]) was established in 1981, <http://www.fsmlaw.org/fsm/
decisions/index.htm>.
[19] The main court rules are civil procedure, criminal procedure, appellate procedure, evidence,
and rules of admission, <http://www.fsmlaw.org/fsm/rules/index.htm> .
[20] The Kosrae State Code was originally enacted in 1985 and was revised in 1997 <http:
//www.fsmlaw.org/kosrae/code/index.htm>. The Yap State Code was originally enacted in
[1988] and has been updated three times, the last time in 2000 <http://www.fsmlaw.org/yap/ code/index.htm> . The states of Pohnpei and Chuuk have proposed or draft codes in various stages of completion and awaiting enactment by their respective legislatures. The draft code for Chuuk can be accessed at <http://www.fsmlaw.org/chuuk/code/index.htm> . Information on the draft code for Pohnpei can be accessed at <http://www.fsmlaw.org/pohnpei/code/ index.htm> .
[21] The Pohnpei Supreme Court Reports (cited as ___P.S.Ct.R___) began in 1989 and have six volumes of selected trial and appellate division decisions beginning from 21 March 1984
<http://www.fsmlaw.org/pohnpei/decision/index.htm> .
[22] The Chuuk State Supreme Court Reports (cited as ___CSR___) began in 1994 and have one volume of selected appellate division decisions beginning from 23 August 1994 <http:
//www.fsmlaw.orge/chuuk/decisions/index.htm>.
[23] The Asian Development Bank is a multilateral development finance institution dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific. Established in 1966 the ADB is
now owned by 61 member countries, mostly from the Asia-Pacific region. The ADB has a website at <http://www.adb.org/> .
24 The technical assistance grant (TA No. 3510) was under the law and governance
program of the Asian Development Bank. The total ADB contribution to the IAL project was approximately US$300,000.
[25] The community education program was coordinated by the Micronesian Seminar and consisted of radio and video programs, and distributed written material on various aspects of the local legal system. MicSem is a private non-profit, non-governmental organisation established as a research-pastoral institute by the Catholic Church, and turned over to the Jesuit Order in 1992. MicSem serves the people of the FSM, Marshall Islands, Palau, and CNMI by stimulating them to reflect on current issues in their societies. MicSem has its own website <http://micsem.org/home.htm> .
[26] The total local government contribution to the IAL project was approximately
US$70,000.
27 The LIS consultant had prior codification experience in completing the initial Palau
National Code in 1986, the initial Yap State Code in 1988, the 1997 revision of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Code, and the 1997 annotated edition of the FSM Code. The consultant had prior website development experience in assisting with
the establishment of the Commonwealth Law Revision Commission website at <http:
//www.cnmilaw.org/> in 1997.
[28] The State of Pohnpei had already prepared a draft Pohnpei State Code which was pending before the Pohnpei Legislature for enactment.
29 The Micronesian Seminar was contracted by the ADB to provide assistance in preparing
the LIS website. The assistance included scanning material, proofreading it, and formatting
it so that it could be made into web pages. MicSem also created web pages and established links within the website and to other websites requiring such links.
[30] Search engines from Yahoo, Google, and Excite were contacted. Other organisations and websites such as those from the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII), the University of South Pacific (USP) and Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute (PacLII) were contacted.
[31] Adobe Acrobat PDF format was chosen because it retains the format of documents as in the print version and because of the rapid and relatively simple conversation process.
FSM Congress bills, resolutions, and committee reports are formatted in a way that makes them difficult to convert from word processing to HTML format. Captions, line numbering, indentation and signature lines, among other features, make conversation difficult and time consuming.
32 National leaders included are the President, Vice President, and selected cabinet
members of the Executive Branch, the Speaker and Vice Speaker of the FSM Congress, the
Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the FSM Supreme Court, and the Public Auditor.
[33] State leaders included are the Governors, Lt. Governors, and selected cabinet members
of the Executive Branches, the Speakers, Vice Speakers, President and Vice President of the Senate (Chuuk only) of the legislatures, and the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the state courts.
34 Congress elections occur every other year in March and a new congress takes office in
May.
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