Constitutional amendments enacted in March 2026 following the failed 2025 referendum
10
- Jurisdiction
- Nauru
- Provision
- 10
- Source language
- English
- Recorded status
- in force
More details
- Recorded status
- in force
Provision text
Official sourceArticle 10 Provision to secure protection of law
(1) No person shall be convicted of an offence which is not defined by law.
(2) A person charged with an offence shall, unless the charge is withdrawn, be afforded
a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court.
(3) A person charged with an offence:
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LAWS OF THE REPUBLIC OF NAURU Article 10
(a) shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law;
(b) shall be informed promptly in a language that he understands and in detail of
the nature of the offence with which he is charged;
(c) shall be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence;
(d) shall be permitted to have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if he
cannot understand or speak the language used at the trial of the charge;
(e) shall be permitted to defend himself before the court in person or, at his own
expense, by a legal representative of his own choice or to have a legal
representative assigned to him in a case where the interests of justice so require
and without payment by him in any such case if he does not, in the opinion of
the court, have sufficient means to pay the costs incurred; and
(f) shall be afforded facilities to examine in person or by his legal representative
the witnesses called before the court by the prosecution, and to obtain the
attendance and carry out the examination of witnesses and to testify before the
court on his own behalf, on the same conditions as those applying to witnesses
called by the prosecution,
and, except with his own consent, the trial shall not take place in his absence unless
he so conducts himself as to render the continuance of the proceedings in his
presence impracticable and the court has ordered him to be removed and the trial to
proceed in his absence.
(4) No person shall be convicted of an offence on account of any act or omission that did
not, at the time it took place, constitute such an offence and no penalty shall be
imposed for an offence that is more severe in degree or description than the
maximum penalty that might have been imposed for that offence at the time when it
was committed.
(5) No person who shows that he has been tried by a competent court for an offence and
either convicted or acquitted shall again be tried for that offence, except upon the
order of a superior court made in the course of appeal or review proceedings relating
to the conviction or acquittal.
(6) No person shall be tried for an offence for which he has been pardoned.
(7) No person who is tried for an offence shall be compelled to give evidence at the trial.
(8) No person shall be compelled in the trial of an offence to be a witness against
himself.
(9) A determination of the existence or extent of a civil right or obligation shall not be
made except by an independent and impartial court or other authority prescribed by
law and proceedings for such a determination shall be fairly heard and within a
reasonable time.
(10) Except with the agreement of the parties thereto, proceedings of a court and
proceedings for the determination of the existence or extent of any civil right or
obligation before any other authority, including the announcement of the decision of
the court or other authority, shall be held in public.
(11) Nothing in clause (10) of this Article shall prevent the court or other authority from
excluding from the hearing of the proceedings persons, other than the parties thereto
and their legal representatives, to such extent as the court or other authority:
(a) is by law empowered to do and considers necessary or expedient in the interests
of public morality or in circumstances where publicity would prejudice the
interests of justice, the welfare of persons under the age of twenty years or the
protection of private lives of persons concerned in the proceedings; or
(b) is by law empowered or required to do in the interests of defence, public safety
or public order.
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Source record
Source and verification
Constitutional amendments enacted in March 2026 following the failed 2025 referendum · nauru.gov.nr · Retrieved 18 August 2026.
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