Indigenous Legal Judgments : Bringing Indigenous Voices into Judicial Decision Making book cover
1st Edition

Indigenous Legal Judgments
Bringing Indigenous Voices into Judicial Decision Making

Edited By

Nicole Watson

,

Heather Douglas

Copyright Year 2021


  • Available for pre-order. Item will ship after June 28, 2021
ISBN 9780367467456
June 28, 2021 Forthcoming by Routledge
336 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
USD $48.95

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Book Description

This book is a collection of key legal decisions affecting Indigenous Australians, which have been re-imagined so as to be inclusive of Indigenous people’s stories, historical experience, perspectives and worldviews.

In this groundbreaking work, Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars have collaborated to rewrite sixteen key decisions. Spanning from 1889 to 2017, the judgments reflect the trajectory of Indigenous people’s engagements with Australian law. The collection includes decisions that laid the foundation for the wrongful application of terra nullius, and the long disavowal of native title. Contributors have also challenged narrow judicial interpretations of native title, which have denied recognition to Indigenous people who suffered the prolonged impacts of dispossession. Exciting new voices have reclaimed Australian law to deliver justice to the Stolen Generations and to families who have experienced institutional and police racism. Contributors have shown how judicial officers can use their power to challenge systemic racism and tell the stories of Indigenous people who have been dehumanized by the criminal justice system.

The new judgments are characterised by intersectional perspectives which draw on postcolonial, critical race and whiteness theory. Several scholars have chosen to operate within the parameters of legal doctrine. Some have imagined new truth-telling forums, highlighting the strength and creative resistance of Indigenous people to oppression and exclusion. Others have rejected the possibility that the legal system, that has been integral to settler colonialism, can ever deliver meaningful justice to Indigenous people.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Megan Davis

1. Introduction

Nicole Watson and Heather Douglas

Part 1: Sovereignty

  1. Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (1971) 17 FLR 141.

    2. Essay: Oscar Monaghan

  2. Cooper v Stuart (1889) 14 App Cas 286.

    3. Commentary: Eddie Synot and Roshan de Silva-Wijeyeratne

    Judgment: Eddie Synot and Roshan de Silva-Wijeyeratne

  3. Walker v NSW (1994) 182 CLR 45

    4. Commentary: Tanya Mitchell and Amanda Porter

    Judgment: Amanda Porter and Tanya Mitchell

    Part 2: Land and Sea Country

  4. Tickner v Chapman (1995) 57 FCR 451.

    5. Commentary: Narelle Bedford and Peter Billings

    Judgment: Narelle Bedford and Peter Billings

  5. Members of the Yorta Yorta Abriginal Community v Victoria [2002] HCA 58.

    6. Commentary: Simon Young

    Judgment: Marcelle Burns

  6. Akiba on behalf of the Torres Strait Regional Sea Claims Group v Commonwealth of Australia (2013) HCA 33.

    7.

    Commentary: Alison Whittaker

    Judgment: Virginia Marshall

    Part 3: Racism and Discrimination

  7. Kartinyeri v Commonwealth [1998] HCA 22.

    8. Commentary: Larissa Behrendt and Taryn Lee

    Judgment: Larissa Behrendt and Taryn Lee

  8. Commissioner of Corrective Services v Aldridge (No. 2) [2002] NSWADTAP 6.

    9. Commentary: Debbie Bargallie and Jennifer Nielsen

    Judgment: Jennifer Nielsen and Debbie Bargallie

  9. Eatock v Bolt [2011] FCA 1103.

    10. Commentary: Simon Rice

    Poem and Note: Alison Whittaker

    Part 4: Family and Identity

  10. Dempsey v Rigg (1914) St R Qld 245.

    11. Commentary: Trudie Broderick

    Judgment: Nicole Watson

  11. State of South Australia v Lampard-Trevorrow [2010] SASC 56.

    12. Commentary: Terri Libesman

    Judgment: Kirsten Gray

  12. Backford & Backford and Anor (No 2) [2017] FamCAFC 206.

    13. Commentary: Keryn Ruska and Zoe Rathus

    Judgment: Keryn Ruska and Zoe Rathus

    Part 5: Criminalisation and Criminal Neglect

  13. Roach v Electoral Commissioner [2007] HCA 43.

    14. Commentary: Jonathan Crowe and Dani Larkin.

    Judgment: Dani Larkin and Jonathan Crowe.

  14. Nona v Barnes [2012] QCA 346.

    15. Commentary: Heather Douglas and Heron Loban

    Judgment: Heron Loban and Heather Douglas, translation Deenorah Yellub.

  15. Bugmy v R [2013] HCA 37.

    16.

    Commentary: Mary Spiers Williams

    Judgment: Mary Spiers Williams

  16. Report of the Inquest into the Death of Miss Dhu (Perth, 16 December 2016).

Commentary: Suvendrini Perera

Judgment: Hannah McGlade

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Editor(s)

Biography

Heather Douglas is a Professor at the Law School, University of Melbourne.

Nicole Watson is a Munanjali and Birri Gubba woman from south east Queensland. Nicole is a Senior Lecturer and Discovery Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award Fellow at the University of Sydney Law School.