Vavaʻu Code

It delineated an ordered society where the monarch, chiefs, and subjects live in mutual obligation and also guaranteed the rights of the commoners for the first time.

[1] Along with the legal system it set up, the Code established the sovereign's intention creating a government "by law", one that is respected by the Europeans.

In its first clause, it declared: "The laws of this our land prohibit - murder, theft, adultery, fornication and the retailing of the spirits".

[4] The Vavaʻu Code was strongly influenced by the George Tupou I's religious beliefs[3] and was supported by the Methodist missionaries as the king was a convert.

A provision banning the practice of tattooing, for instance, declared that "it is not lawful to tatatau or kaukau or to perform any other idolatrous ceremonies" and that "if one does so, he will be judged and punished and fined for so doing".