“a law unto themselves”: legal innovation in Ambae, Vanuatu

There are few accounts in anthropological literature of radical legal innovation in small‐scale societies. This paper discusses a South Pacific society in which, following the end of colonial rule, people reorganized their villages, codified their laws, and established a court system well able to resolve most disputes. The case of Ambae, Vanuatu, raises the question: Why, in a world area well known for economic, religious, and political …