Vavaʻu Code
The Vavaʻu Code was instituted in
Provisions
The Code instituted basic human rights and limited the power of chiefs over their subjects: chiefs no longer had the right of life and death over their people, nor could they seize agricultural produce.[3] Furthermore, chiefs could now be put on trial like any other Tongan. In its first clause, it declared: "The laws of this our land prohibit - murder, theft, adultery, fornication and the retailing of the spirits".[4] A later law would provide three months of hard labor as penalty for each of these offenses.[4]
The Vavaʻu Code was strongly influenced by the George Tupou I's religious beliefs
The Vavaʻu Code was followed and completed by further laws, including a second Code in 1850 forbidding the sale of land to foreigners and proclaiming Tupou as supreme leader of Tonga.
Sources
- Huffer, Elise, ISBN 2-7099-1125-6
References
- ^ ISBN 9781925021172.
- ISBN 0415907799.
- ^ ISBN 9781409470496.
- ^ ISBN 9780824818562.
- ISBN 9780231143684.