Recognition of Aboriginal customary laws (ALRC 31)
The Australian Law Reform Commission was directed to consider the issue of recognition of Aboriginal customary law in a reference received on 9 February 1977. The inquiry was one of the most comprehensive ever conducted by the Commission.
During the course of the inquiry, three Discussion Papers were produced:
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Aboriginal Customary Law - Recognition? (DP 17) in 1980;
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Aboriginal Customary Law - Marriage, Children and the Distribution of Property (DP 18) in 1982; and
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Aboriginal Customary Law - Criminal Law, Evidence and Procedure (DP 20) in 1984.
The inquiry concluded with a two-volume final report and summary, entitled Recognition of Aboriginal customary laws (ALRC 31), tabled in federal parliament on 12 June 1986.
The Commission's report on Aboriginal customary law has been widely recognised as an authoritative and comprehensive work on the subject. However, the recommendations of ALRC 31 have not been the subject of comprehensive responses or implementation on a federal level.
Since the tabling of the Commission's report in federal Parliament there have been a number of major changes in Indigenous affairs in Australia. Milestones have included the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the High Court judgment in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992) and subsequent cases which recognised the ownership of land by Indigenous people according to customary law and the enactment of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).
Nonetheless, the recommendations made by the Commission remain appropriate.
Please note: The Commission's 1977 terms of reference refer to Aboriginal customary laws (rather than Indigenous customary laws generally), and this summary reflects this language.