Course overview
This course will enable students to develop an advanced understanding of First Nations Peoples relationship to law and land and the impact that domestic and international legal systems have upon those relationships. Students will develop an understanding for Aboriginal legal systems and their underlying philosophy and the different relationships and world views that First Nations and non-Aboriginal people have with the land. The students will also investigate key concepts in property law and its capacity to recognise First Nations relationships with country. Students will review case studies that include heritage and cultural issues and conduct comparative analysis of international law and the position of First Nations legal systems with particular focus on the ownership and control of Aboriginal knowledge and land.
Course learning outcomes
- Understand and provide a coherent account of First Nations relationships to law and land.
- Examine western legal philosophy from an Aboriginal standpoint, applying critical legal and post-colonial theory.
- Interrogate the historical and contemporary relationships between First Nations, domestic and international laws.
- Examine the recognition of First Nations legal systems in the context of universality and law.