Treaty: Indigenous-settler Agreements (LAWS90191)

Treaties are negotiated agreements between nations and peoples. In this subject we address treaty-making as a practice of comparative law and agreement-making between Indigenous nations and settler institutions. We will interrogate the comparative law, policy, theory and history of agreement-making in settler states. The subject aims to equip students with a sound understanding of the historical and contemporary challenges that attend the Indigenous-settler legal relationship, and an understanding of what is required if Indigenous-settler agreements are to be legitimate and robust. 

Indicative list of principal topics:

• the history and experience of treaty and agreement-making in Australia; with comparisons drawn to other settler colonial jurisdiction, especially New Zealand, Canada and the United States;
• the movement in Victoria towards the conclusion of a treaty between the Crown in right of Victoria and Victorian Aboriginal peoples;
• the design of Indigenous representative institutions;
• Historic treaties and applicable law  in New Zealand, Canada and the United States;
• Indigenous-settler agreement-making in property law (for example Indigenous Land Use Agreements, and the design and operation of Native Title Registered Bodies Corporate);
• Indigenous-settler agreement-making in social policy and service delivery sectors, natural resource management, and in environmental law and policy;
• the relevance and impact of international law on agreements, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention 169 on Tribal and Indigenous Peoples.