The Island Council is the legislative body of the Pitcairn Islands. It also doubles as the court of the British dependency, making it one of the few bodies in the world to possess both legislative and judicial authority. (The British House of Lords technically has dual authority also, but in practice only an elite committee of 12 members, known as Law Lords, exercises the judicial function, as one of two supreme courts of the UK.).
The Council ha...
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The Island Council is the legislative body of the Pitcairn Islands. It also doubles as the court of the British dependency, making it one of the few bodies in the world to possess both legislative and judicial authority. (The British House of Lords technically has dual authority also, but in practice only an elite committee of 12 members, known as Law Lords, exercises the judicial function, as one of two supreme courts of the UK.).
The Council has ten members. The Mayor and the Chairman of the Island Council, both of whom are directly elected, hold membership on the council ex officio. Four ordinary councillors are popularly elected. The four ordinary councillors, together with the Council Chairman, co-opt a sixth member. The colonial governor appoints two councillors, one of whom is the Island Secretary. The tenth seat is reserved for a commissioner liaising between the governor and the Council. Apart from the Mayor, who serves a three-year term, and the Island Secretary, whose term...
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