This comprehensive three-volume revision and update of the initial 1982 edition of the Code of the Federated States of Micronesia and its first cumulative supplement, has been designated the 1997 edition of the Code of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM Code) by Section 14 of Public Law No. 10-25 (codified at 1 F.S.M.C. 232), which authorized its completion.

This 1997 edition of the FSM Code updates the Code with the public laws of the Fifth through Ninth Congress’ of the Federated States of Micronesia. This includes public laws following Public Law No. 4-115, signed into law on May 7, 1987, through Public Law No. 9-164, which became law without signature on May 12, 1997. This 1997 edition, therefore, incorporates over ten years worth of public laws enacted by the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia.

This 1997 edition of the FSM Code also, for the first time, includes the addition of extensive case annotations to the Code, and national and state constitutions. These case annotations should assist legal practitioners and all users of the Code in locating pertinent judicial decisions which interpret or cite to Code sections, or national or state constitutional provisions.

The case annotations used in this Code were obtained and used with the express permission of the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia. The producers of this Code would like to thank the Honorable Andon L. Amaraich, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia for allowing the use of these case annotations which took thousands of hours of work to produce.

The producers of this Code would also like to thank those who were instrumental in seeing to the completion of this project. These include the following: all of the Members of the Ninth and Tenth Congress’ of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Honorable Jacob Nena, past President of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Honorable Leo A. Falcam, President of the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Honorable Andon L. Amaraich, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia.

We also acknowledge that such a large project could not have been completed without the able and invaluable assistance of the attorneys, law clerks, and other staff of the Office of the Legislative Counsel, FSM Congress, the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Department of Justice, FSM National Government, the Office of the Public Defender, the State governments and State attorney offices of Pohnpei, Chuuk, Kosrae, and Yap, and the Micronesian Legal Services Corporation who assisted in the review and/or proofreading of this Code in its draft form.

We also would like to acknowledge and thank the contractor who put this project all together. Former Legislative Counsel, Dennis K. Yamase, actually began the work that is included in this project way back in 1988 and has finally seen this project through to completion.

While many hundreds of hours of proofreading were put into completing this Code, it is inevitable that in a work of this size, errors will still be found. Errors should be reported to the Office of the Legislative Counsel so that future supplements or editions to this Code can be properly corrected and revised.

It is hoped that this 1997 edition of the Code of the Federated States of Micronesia will make the laws of the Federated States of Micronesia more easily accessible to the citizenry of the FSM and the legal practitioners, both public and private. For in a nation that conducts itself under the rule of law, the laws must be made readily available to all.