Indigenous Customary Law

Common law native title recognises Indigenous peoples as lawmakers, and the Mabo decision acknowledged indigenous law and society as a legitimate source of rights and interests.

While this recognition was limited to land, it was an important acknowledgment, because it brought Aboriginal law into the common law system.

In the past, the courts did not recognise the Aboriginal law still exercised by many Indigenous communities. And in areas of Criminal law, the rules of evidence, and family law affecting marriage and adoption, the two systems of law have often collided.