Supreme Court of Mauritius

Supreme Court of Mauritius
Coat of arms of Mauritius
Country	Mauritius
Location	Port Louis
Composition method	By the President, after consultation with the Prime Minister
Authorized by	Constitution of Mauritius
Judge term length	62 years of age
Website	supremecourt.govmu.org
Chief Justice
Currently	Kheshoe Parsad Matadeen
Since	31st December 2013

The Supreme Court of Mauritius is the highest court of Mauritius and is the final court of appeal in the Mauritian judicial system. It was established in its current form in 1850, replacing the Cour d'Appel established in 1808 during the French administration and has a permanent seat in Port Louis. There is a right of appeal from the Supreme Court of Mauritius directly to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.

The Chief Justice is the head of the court and has precedent over any other Judges in the republic. The Chief Justice is also second in line (after the Vice-President) to succeed the President in case of removal, death or resignation until a new President is elected. The Chief Justice is also fifth in the line of precedence following the President, Prime Minister, Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister. The current Chief Justice is Kheshoe Parsad Matadeen having been appointed since 31 December 2013 by President Purryag. The major divisions of the Supreme Court are Family Division, Commercial Division, Master's Court, Mediation Division, Criminal Division, Court of Civil Appeal and Court of Criminal Appeal. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the final Court of appeal in Mauritius.

The modern system of law in Mauritius is an amalgamation of French civil law and common law, while the civil and criminal proceedings are modelled based on British practice. Supreme Court is established as the highest court of justice and lower courts of namely, the Criminal Court of Procedure and the Civil Court of Procedure. The official language used in the Supreme Court is English.

In 1507 Portuguese sailors came to the uninhabited island and established a visiting base. Diogo Fernandes Pereira, a Portuguese navigator, was the first European known to land in Mauritius. He named the island "Ilha do Cirne". The Portuguese did not stay long as they were not interested in these islands. In 1598 a Dutch squadron under Admiral Wybrand Van Warwyck landed at Grand Port and named the island "Mauritius" after Prince Maurice van Nassau of the Dutch Republic, the ruler of his country. France, which already controlled neighbouring Île Bourbon (now Réunion), took control of Mauritius in 1715 and renamed it Isle de France. From 1767 to 1810, except for a brief period during the French Revolution when the inhabitants set up a government virtually independent of France, the island was controlled by officials appointed by the French Government. A Penal Code was published in 1791 and adoped by the Colonial Assembly in 1793, while a separate civil code was promulgated on 3 September 1807. The Supreme Court was established as a supreme body composed of the Prime minister, President, three judges, four clerks and a government commissioner where appeal from neighbouring Seychelles was also allowed.