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Hawaii Revised Statutes

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 601-5 (2026)

  Independence of judiciary

✓ current as of July 2026
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     §601-5  Independence of judiciary.  The judiciary branch and the several judges and other judicial officers thereof shall be independent of both the executive and legislative departments.  The governor shall have no power to interfere with, alter, or overrule any order, writ, judgment, or decision of any court, judge, or other judicial officer, except in the exercise of the power to grant reprieves and pardons in pursuance of law. [L 1892, c 57, §2; am L 1903, c 32, §1; RL 1925, §2212; RL 1935, §3571; RL 1945, §9272; RL 1955, §213-2; HRS §601-5; am L 1974, c 159, §17]

 

Cross References

 

  See Const. art. VI.

 

Rules of Court

 

  See JC Canon 1.

 

Attorney General Opinions

 

  Laws governing hours of work, vacation, etc., of all public employees do not by coverage of employees in judiciary department impair the judicial power.  Att. Gen. Op. 63-20.

 

Case Notes

 

  No court ought to give an order of which it would be unable to compel the enforcement.  5 H. 669 (1878).

  Court cannot supply a want in the law, or legislate and make law.  8 H. 478 (1892).

 

 

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1973–2025 · leading case: State v. Gustafson, 515 P.2d 1256 (Haw. 1973).
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State v. Gustafson, 515 P.2d 1256 (Haw. 1973). · cites it 4× “Since it is not necessary to construe HRS § 708-5 for the resolution of the instant case, we dispose of appellant's contention by stating that arrest without warrant must be premised on probable cause.”
Application of Ferguson, 846 P.2d 894 (Haw. 1993). · cites it 2× “, HRS § 601-5 (1975 and 1985), relating to the independence of the judiciary.”
State v. Rogan. S.Ct. Opinion, filed 06/05/2018 [ada], 142 Haw. 412. Petition for Writs of Prohibition & Mandamus, filed 12/29/2017. (Haw. 2025). · cites it 3× “HRS §§ 601-5 (2016) and 602-5.5 (2016) set forth the statutory framework further fortifying the independence of the judiciary and the power of this court to determine the custody of all judicial files.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.