From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Attorney-General of Fiji

Political and legal officer in Fiji

Field	Value
post	Attorney-General
body	Fiji
native_name

insignia	[[File:Coat of arms of Fiji.svg	120px]]
insigniacaption	Coat of arms of
the Republic of Fiji
incumbent	Vacant
incumbentsince	1 June 2025
style	The Honourable
reports_to	Prime Minister of Fiji
appointer	President of Fiji
formation	1872
first	Robert Wilson Hamilton

the Republic of Fiji The Attorney-General is a political and legal officer in Fiji. The attorney-general is the chief law officer of the State, and has responsibility for supervising Fijian law and advising the government on legal matters. Like other members of the Fijian Cabinet, the attorney-general is appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.

According to the 2013 Constitution of Fiji, the attorney-general is required to be a registered legal practitioner in Fiji, with not less than fifteen years' post-admission legal practice, either in Fiji or internationally. The attorney-general is a member of the Cabinet of Fiji, and is normally expected to be a Member of Parliament. The Prime Minister may, however, choose an attorney-general from outside Parliament after determining there is no suitably qualified Member of Parliament who supports the Government. An Attorney-General who is not a Member of Parliament may sit in Parliament, but may not vote.

The office of the attorney-general is the oldest surviving executive office in Fiji, having been established in the Kingdom of Fiji in 1872. It continued throughout Fiji's years as a British crown colony (1874–1970) and subsequently as the Dominion of Fiji (1970–1987) and republic (1987–present), with minimal modifications.

The attorney-general was the only Cabinet office, apart from that of the prime minister, specifically established by the 1997 Constitution, which required the attorney-general to be a member of either the House of Representatives or the Senate. A unique feature of the office was that except for voting rights (which could be exercised only in the chamber of which the attorney-general was officially a member), the attorney-general had the authority to participate in the business of both chambers of Parliament. This feature became redundant upon the adoption of the 2013 Constitution, which established a unicameral parliament.

Role of the Attorney-General's Office

The role of the attorney-general is defined as "providing essential legal expertise and support to the Government". More specific functions include "legislative drafting", "legal aid", "the prerogative of mercy" (advising the President), "liquor licensing" and "film censorship". Thus, the attorney-general is responsible for all legal needs of government departments, statutory bodies, and state-owned enterprises.

The office has three offices in Suva, Lautoka, and Labasa respectively. Government legal work in the country's Central and Eastern Divisions is undertaken by the central office in Suva, headed by the Solicitor-General, while the Lautoka office (headed by the Principal Legal Officer) is responsible for the Western Division. The Northern Division is covered by the Labasa office.

List of attorneys-general of Fiji

Note that some attorneys-general have held office in multiple consecutive administrations, particularly in the colonial era.

Kingdom of Viti (1871–1874)

No.	Name	Term of office	Appointed by (King):
1	Robert Wilson Hamilton	1872	Seru Epenisa Cakobau
2	Charles Rossiter Forwood	1872–1873
3	Sydney Charles Burt	1873–1874

Crown colony (1874–1970)

No.	Name	Term of office	Governor
4	James Herman De Ricci	1875–1876	Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon
5	Joseph Hector Garrick	1876–1882	Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon
6	Fielding Clarke	1882–1886	Sir William Des Vœux
7	Henry Spencer Berkeley	1886–1889
8	John Symonds Udal	1889–1899	Sir John Bates Thurston
9	Henry Edward Pollock	1901–1903	William Lamond Allardyce
10	Albert Ehrhardt	1903–1914	Sir Henry Moore Jackson
11	Alfred Karney Young	1914–1922	Sir Ernest Bickham Sweet-Escott
12	Kenneth James Muir MacKenzie	1922–1927	Sir Cecil Hunter Rodwell
13	Percy Alexander McElwaine	1927–1931	Sir Eyre Hutson
14	Charles Gough Howell	1931–1933	Sir Arthur George Murchison Fletcher
15	Ransley Samuel Thacker	1933–1938
16	Edward Enoch Jenkins	1938–1945	Sir Arthur Frederick Richards
17	John Henry Vaughan	1945–1949	Sir Alexander Grantham
18	Brian Andre Doyle	1949–1956	Sir Brian Freeston
19	Ashley Martin Greenwood	1956–1963	Sir Ronald Herbert Garvey
20	Henry Roger Justin Lewis	1963–1970	Sir Kenneth Phipson Maddocks

Dominion (1970–1987)

No.	Name	Term of office	Served under: [1]	Governor-General
21	John Neil Falvey	1970–1977	Ratu Sir George Cakobau	Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
22	Sir Vijay R. Singh	1977–1979
23	Andrew Indar Narayan Deoki	1979–1981
24	Manikam Pillai	1981–1984
Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau
25	Qoriniasi Babitu Bale	1984–1987
26	Jai Ram Reddy	1987	Timoci Bavadra
27	Alipate Qetaki	1987	vacant
[1] The Attorney-General in this period was formally appointed by the Governor-General, but on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Republic (1987–present)

No.	Name	Term of office	Served under: [1]	President
28	Sailosi Kepa	1987–1992	Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau	Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
29	Apaitia Seru	1992	Major general (Rtd) Sitiveni Rabuka
30	Kelemedi Bulewa	1992–1996
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
31	Etuate Tavai	1996–1999
32	Anand K. Singh	1999–2000	Mahendra Chaudhry
Ratu Tevita Momoedonu
(27)	Alipate Qetaki	2000–2001	Ratu Josefa Iloilo	Laisenia Qarase
Ratu Tevita Momoedonu
Laisenia Qarase
(25)	Qoriniasi Babitu Bale	2001–2006	Laisenia Qarase
33	Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum	2007–2014	Rear admiral (Rtd) Frank Bainimarama
Ratu Epeli Nailatikau
34	Faiyaz Koya	2014
(33)	Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum	2014–2022
Jioji Konrote
Wiliame Katonivere
35	Siromi Turaga	2022–2024	Wiliame Katonivere	Major general (Rtd) Sitiveni Rabuka
36	Graham Leung	2024 –2025	Wiliame Katonivere	Major general (Rtd) Sitiveni Rabuka
37	Siromi Turaga	2025 –	Naiqama Lalabalavu	Major general (Rtd) Sitiveni Rabuka
[1] The Attorney-General in this period is formally appointed by the President, but on the advice of the Prime Minister.

References

"Welcome to the website of the Office of the Attorney-General". © Copyright 2005-2008, Office of the Attorney-General.
"Constitution of the Republic of Fiji".
[http://www.ag.gov.fj/ Office of the Attorney-General] {{webarchive. link. (October 24, 2015 ([[Fiji]]), official website.)

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

cabinet-of-fiji attorneys-general-of-fiji 1872-establishments-in-fiji

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Attorney-General of Fiji — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report