The Making of Australian Property Law

Description

In 1847, in one of the most important cases in Australian legal history, the Chief Justice of NSW, Sir Alfred Stephen, handed down a decision that would have profound implications for both the development of Australian property law and the property rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. The case was Attorney General v Brown, and in his decision Stephen CJ ruled that the laws of property in Australia were governed by feudal principles. The shadow cast by Attorney General v Brown has been a long one, stretching down to the decision in Mabo and beyond. Judicial thinking and much legal scholarship continues to emphasise a connection between the feudal origins of the English law and the state of contemporary Australian property law, thereby perpetuating a "nostalgic" view of Australian property law. This book, in contrast, argues that the feudal imprint on property in Australia had been "washed away" by the early 1860s and that the decades of the early nineteenth century witnessed the making of a distinct Australian property law. Egalitarianism, rather than feudalism, this book argues, shaped the emergence of Australian property law. This book situates legal development in its social and political context, re-evaluating the relationship between political ideas, social values and law reform in early Australia.

Get the book

Amazon.com

Search the book

eBay.com

Search the book

Similar books

• 

  The Law of Real Property

  By Robert Megarry, Charles Harpum, William Wade

  The test is whether, in the circumstances, it has become unconscionable for the plaintiff to rely upon his legal right'': Shaw vApplegate [1977] 1 W.L.R. 970 at 980, per Goff L.J.; Frawley v Neill [1999] 5 C.L. §531 (CA); Re ...

• 

  Concentrate Questions and Answers Land Law: Law Q&a Revision and Study Guide

  By Peter Luxton, Margaret Wilkie, Rosalind Malcolm

  ... and, on the other TSB Bank plc v Marshall TSB Bank plc v Marshall [1998] 3 EGLR 100 [1998] 3 EGLR 100 andand Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Home Mortgages v Bell Home Mortgages v Bell [2001] 2 FLR 809 [2001] 2 FLR 809.

• 

  Settlers in the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, 1788-1810

  By Clifford Neal Smith

  Settlers in the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, 1788-1810

• 

  Global Land Grabbing and Political Reactions 'from Below'

  By Marc Edelman

  Readers of this collection will encounter a multinational group of scholars who use the tools of social movements theory and critical agrarian studies to examine cases from Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ethiopia, ...

• 

  Edward Gibbon Wakefield in New Zealand: His Political Career, 1853-4

  By Peter Alan Stuart

  ... to the propriety of a reduction in the price of land.11 Grey recognised the need to foster the growth of a class of small farmers , 12 and ... 34 , Pakington / Grey , 21 July 1852 ; see also NA , G 25/5 , Grey / Earl Grey , 16 Sep.

• 

  Thompson's Modern Land Law

  By Mark P. Thompson, Martin George

  For an instance where the roles were reversed, see Barclays Bank plc v Rivett [1999] 1 F.L.R. 730. * [1994] 1 A.C. 180 at 198. See Massey v. Midland Bank plc [1995] 1 All E.R. 925. * Northern Rock Building Society v.

• 

  Land Law

  By Kevin J. Gray

  This seventh edition covers everything from the legal definition of land to the essential elements in a lease or tenancy and the function of covenants in the planning of land use.

• 

  Textbook on Land Law

  By Judith-Anne MacKenzie

  We have seen that in Hall v Hall Lord Denning considered that such a contribution could be taken into account. The court in Burns v Burns was of the opinion ... 70(1)(g) (see 7.10.1 and 7.10.4.3). Thus, this case came to the courts as a ...

• 

  The Informal Acquisition of Rights in Land

  By Nicholas S. Hopkins, Nicholas Hopkins

  This journal focuses on the law of corporate and personal insolvency, providing current awareness of legal developments, practical guidance on law and transactional issues, and skilled legal analysis.

• 

  Land Law

  By Sarah Nield

  McFarlane, Hopkins, and Nield's Land Law is the most succinct, analytical textbook available in this subject area.