Terra nullius

Terra nullius is a Latin phrase meaning “uninhabited ground”. The expression refers to a principle of the 17th century which describes a place not being claimed by a sovereign power recognized by the European authorities ; according to this principle, the grounds were had by nobody.

During the 18th century, the principle was used to give a legal force to the colonization of ground occupied by people not having a legal system or of system of property. The Swiss Philosopher and theorist of the International law Emerich de Vattel, building inter alia its Philosophy on that of John Locke, proposed that the principle will terra nullius applies where the ground is not cultivated by the inhabitants Indigène S. the ground not being cultivated, it is not used advisedly. Those which will cultivate it will have consequently the property right on it.

The principle of will terra nullius was called upon to justify the colonization of the Australia by the Britanniques, and the expropriation of the indigenous grounds . The Aboriginals indeed did not cultivate the ground, but their culture and their identity were (and are) inextricably related to their precise ancestral grounds. It is only into 1992 that the High court of Australia invalidated this argument retroactively, and proclaimed that Australia had never been will terra nullius (Mabo & Others v. Queensland, 1992).

Source

Mabo & Others v. Queensland, Legal Australasian Information Institute

Random links: