Judicial Treatment of Indigenous Land Rights in the Common Law World

Abstract

This chapter examines the land rights of Indigenous peoples in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand from the perspective of the common law. Topics discussed are sources, content and proof of these rights, as well as ways in which they can be extinguished and infringed. The connection between land rights and self-government of Indigenous peoples is also considered. The chapter takes a critical and comparative approach, pointing out both positive and negative aspects of the judicial treatment of land rights in each of these common law jurisdictions.