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Criminal law
What the State must prove, what the police may and may not do, and how a criminal charge travels from the police station to a verdict.
Criminal law is where the power of the State meets the individual most directly, and where the constitutional protections in sections 37 and 42 do their hardest work. These guides explain the process and the rights that attach at each stage, including full series on search, arrest and bail.
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When Can You Be Searched?
The five situations in section 3 and the limits in section 4, including the rule on searching women.
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Searching Without a Warrant
Vehicles, craft, and the single building power - immediate pursuit.
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Search Warrants
Who issues them, what must be sworn, what they must contain, and the village rule.
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Can Police Search Me on the Street?
What section 3(1) requires, and what to do at the time.
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Can Police Search My House Without a Warrant?
The immediate-pursuit exception, and the duty to restore the place afterwards.
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Police Want to Search Our Village?
The village warrant and the duty to work through the customary leaders first.
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Can I Sue Over an Unlawful Search?
Section 17 damages, the constitutional route, and the six-month State notice.
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What Is an Arrest in Papua New Guinea?
What an arrest legally is, why every power of arrest must come from a written law, and how the Arrest Act (Chapter 339) is structured.
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Can Police Arrest You Without a Warrant?
The powers in sections 3 to 7, the two-part test for reasonable grounds, and when a court will issue a warrant instead.
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What Are Your Rights When You Are Arrested?
Section 14 at the moment of arrest, the limits on force, and the duties of the officer-in-charge under section 18.
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What Is Bail in Papua New Guinea?
Bail explained from the beginning: what it actually is, where the right comes from in section 42(6) of the Constitution, and the three questions in every bail decision.
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Who Can Grant Bail in PNG?
Bail authorities under sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Bail Act: the charges only the National Court can hear, when police may grant bail, and the Bail Rules 2021.
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Why Was My Bail Refused? The Ten Grounds in Section 9
The closed list of grounds for refusing bail, the discretion confirmed in Fred Keating v The State, and the evidence that makes an application succeed.
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Bail Refused? How to Make Another Bail Application
The section 13 right to apply again immediately, why it is a fresh application rather than an appeal, and what the Bail Rules 2021 require.
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Bail Money, Guarantors and Conditions
What the person on bail and the guarantor are committing to, the five limits on conditions, forfeiture, and the separate offence of breaching bail.
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Can I Get Bail for Wilful Murder or Murder?
What section 42(6) takes away, what section 9 still gives you, and the discretion confirmed in Yausase and Felix Kange.
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How Much Is Bail, and Do I Get It Back?
No fixed scale, what the Act says about affordability, and the Form 24 order that refunds cash bail.