The St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009

Judicial officers

161.—(1) The Governor, acting in accordance with the recommendation of the Ascension Judicial Service Commission, shall appoint any judicial officers.

(2) Before entering upon the duties of his or her office, every judicial officer shall make an oath or affirmation of allegiance and the judicial oath or affirmation in the forms sets out in the Schedule.

(3) A judicial officer shall be appointed for life, or until the appointee reaches such an age as may be prescribed by Ordinance.

(4) A judicial officer may, when his or her appointment expires, continue so to act for the purposes of giving judgment or otherwise in relation to any proceeding commenced before him or her while his or her appointment was subsisting.

(5) A judicial officer—

(a) may resign from office by writing under his or her hand addressed to the presiding member of the Ascension Judicial Service Commission;

(b) shall be deemed to have resigned from office if he or she—

(i) is elected as a member of the Island Council; or

(ii) continues to hold, or accepts, an appointment as an officer of the Ascension Public Service, unless, under a law, such an officer is entitled to serve as a judicial officer on a basis that is consistent with the independence of the judiciary and with the efficiency of the Public Service.

(6) A judicial officer may be removed from office only on the ground of—

(a) inability to discharge the functions of the office (whether arising from infirmity of body or mind or from any other cause); or

(b) misbehaviour,

and shall not be removed except in accordance with subsection (7).

(7) The Governor shall remove a judicial officer from office if—

(a) the question of doing so has been considered by the Ascension Judicial Service Commission; and

(b) the Commission has recommended to the Governor that the judicial officer concerned should be removed from office on a ground referred to in subsection (6).

(8) A person who has been removed from office as a judicial officer by the Governor on the recommendation of the Ascension Judicial Service Commission may apply to the Supreme Court for redress on the ground that any finding of fact or law on which the Commission based its recommendation for removal was unjustified or wrong; and, for the purpose of affording such redress, the Supreme Court may make such declarations and orders, issue such writs and give such directions as it considers appropriate.

(9) A judicial officer shall receive such remuneration as is determined by the Governor, acting in his or her discretion, and that remuneration shall be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund.

(10) The remuneration of a judicial officer shall not be diminished during his or her continuance in office.