Late 20th Century Property Law Reform in Queensland

Abstract

The last three decades of the 20th Century saw fundamental and wide-ranging reform of most aspects of property legislation in Queensland. The trigger was the establishment of the Queensland Law Reform Commission in 1968 and the reference to it by the Government of th major property legislation. The first fruits of this process were the Trusts Act 1973 and the Property Law Act 1974. The Succession Act 1981 followed and ultimately the Land Titles Act 1994. This paper examines the process of reform, the major changes implemented and the common themes running through the different pieces of legislation, and seeks to place the results in the historical context of the development of property law.