Mabo v Queensland (No 2)

Mabo v Queensland (No 2) was a 1992 High Court of Australia decision recognizing native title and rejecting terra nullius as a basis for denying Indigenous land rights.

Native title: A form of land rights recognized by Australian law when Indigenous people’s traditional connection to land or waters continues under their laws and customs. The decision established the common-law basis for recognizing this form of Indigenous land rights.
Eddie Mabo: A Meriam man from Mer whose land-rights campaign led to the landmark 1992 High Court decision. His challenge became the case in which the High Court recognized native title.
Benny Mabo: A Meriam land-rights activist and one of the plaintiffs in the Mabo litigation. He joined the claim seeking legal recognition of Meriam land rights.
Wik Peoples v Queensland: A 1996 High Court decision holding that pastoral leases do not necessarily extinguish native title. It addressed how native title could coexist with land interests after Mabo.
Cooper v Stuart: A 1889 Privy Council decision describing New South Wales at British settlement as practically unoccupied. The judgment’s reasoning rested on an assumption about settlement that Mabo later rejected.
Common law: A legal system in which courts develop law through decisions that interpret statutes and apply precedent. The judgment recognized native title through Australian common law rather than creating it by statute.
Meriam people: The Indigenous people of the Murray Islands in the eastern Torres Strait. Their laws, customs, and connection to Mer were central to the land-rights claim.
James Rice: A Meriam man and plaintiff in the Mabo litigation over land on the Murray Islands. His claim formed part of the case brought on behalf of Meriam landholders.
Native Title Amendment Act 1998: An Australian statute that amended the Native Title Act following the Wik decision. It altered the statutory regime created in response to Mabo.
Terra nullius: The doctrine that land belonged to no one when claimed by a sovereign, historically used to justify European settlement. Mabo rejected this doctrine as a reason to erase Indigenous rights in Australian land law.

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