Our History – Justice of the Peace on Ice

As summer approached in earlier years the Governor-General of New Zealand would announce the appointment of a Justice of the Peace for the Ross Dependency. Office usually went to the leader of New Zealand’s Antarctic Research Programme at Scott Base. The jurisdiction covered some 450,000 square kilometres: the duties conferred all the powers and authorities which justices and coroners exercised in New Zealand with the additional provision… “all things necessary or expedient for the peace, order, and good government of the Dependency, and to safeguard and preserve Her Majesty’s rights and sovereignty over and in respect of the Dependency.”

Researched and compiled by Ric Carlyon