Mari Kapi

Chief Justice Sir Mari Kapi GCL KCMG CBE (12 December 1950 – 25 March 2009) was a Papua New Guinean judge who served as the fourthChief Justice of the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea from 16 August 2003 until his retirement in 2008 due to health regions. Kapi was the first Papua New Guinean citizen to be appointed as a judge and only the third PNG national to be appointed Chief Justice.

Kapi was born at Keapara village, Rigo District, Central Province. He was entirely educated in Papua New Guinea, graduating from the University of Papua New Guinea in 1972. He was employed as a lawyer with the Office of the Public Solicitor and on 1 January 1978 became the first Papua New Guinean national to be appointed a puisne justice of the Supreme and National Courts of Papua New Guinea (the Supreme Court not being a separately constituted court but a "full court" of the National Court). He was appointed Deputy Chief Justice in 1982.

In his jurisprudence, Sir Mari is generally perceived as a strict legalist in the stamp of Sir Owen Dixon and his judgments are noted for their erudition, articulateness and highly literate awareness of common law principles. In evident recognition of Mr Justice Kapi's considerable rigour in the application of the principle of stare decisis he was appointed a member of the Fiji Court of Appeal and, in addition to his judicial responsibilities in Papua New Guinea, he also rendered appellate judgments in that common law jurisdiction.

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