Discovered
by the Dutch and the French in the 16th and 18th century respectively,
Mauritius became British at the beginning of the 19th century
and remained under British rule until its independence in
1968. In 1992, Mauritius changed its status from a Constitutional
Monarchy to that of a Republic but chose to remain in the
British Commonwealth.
Situated in the Indian Ocean, approximately
2000 kms to the east of Durban (South Africa), the island
covers a total area of 1860 km2 or 720 square miles. Mauritius
is situated mid-way between Europe and the Far East, being
four hours ahead of GMT and four hours behind the Far East.
Mauritius has a population of 1.17 million and Mauritians
are bilingual, being equally fluent in English, the official
language, and French.
The Mauritian legal system is largely based
on English and French law. Criminal and civil litigation is
mainly English, as is company law, while substantive law is
modelled on the French Napoleonic Code. Mauritius has chosen
to maintain the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in
England as its highest court of appeal.
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