(Download) "Wurridjal V. Commonwealth: The Northern Territory Intervention and Just Terms for the Acquisition of Property." by Melbourne University Law Review * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Wurridjal V. Commonwealth: The Northern Territory Intervention and Just Terms for the Acquisition of Property.
- Author : Melbourne University Law Review
- Release Date : January 01, 2009
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 328 KB
Description
[In Wurridjal v Commonwealth the High Court considered a constitutional challenge to one aspect of the federal intervention into remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. Plaintiffs from Maningrida argued that the imposition of a five-year lease over Aboriginal land in favour of the Commonwealth was an 'acquisition of property' for the purposes of s 51(xxxi) of the Constitution and that the relevant legislation failed to provide just terms. A majority judges rejected two aspects of the Commonwealth's demurrer. They accepted that the constitutional guarantee of 'just terms' applies to acquisitions effected by the territories power in s 122 of the Constitution. This has wider significance for territory residents and overturns the Court's 1969 decision in Teori Tau v Commonwealth. A majority also agreed that the involuntary lease amounted to an acquisition of property. This reaffirmed the strength of property rights held by Aboriginal groups over more than 40 per cent of the Northern Territory. But the Commonwealth defeated the challenge due to majority acceptance of the third ground of the demurrer: the plaintiffs failed to establish an absence of just terms. However, the reasoning was case-specific and left unanswered questions about just terms for the culturally distinct property rights held by Aboriginal people.] I INTRODUCTION