Customary Law and the Status of Indigenous Australians Essay

It is important to always show respect towards the indigenous, acknowledge their laws, their practices and their customs further paying respects to the original custodians of the land. This however does not mean that recognition of aboriginal customary law is essential to improving the status (social position) of indigenous Australians; on the contrary it poses more problems than solutions. Although law is seen as the fabric of existence and intrinsic to living, it is impossible to judge one legal system in terms of another. As such, while there are many positive aspects of aboriginal customary law, which is merely just different and in no means (worse) or (better) than English common law, its enforcement is not essential to improving the†¦show more content†¦Moreover, the ability to determine which laws are in affect with which Indigenous and non-indigenous Australian’s becomes limited and the issue falls to public disapproval. Due to the unwritten nature of aborigi nal customary law confusion would arise as to who must/can abide by certain customary laws and punishments for those who disobey. An injustice would then occur when distinguishing which indigenous Australian’s receive the blanket of customary law and whether or not it extends to half casts and if so, to whom does it extend. This general confusion would create not only laws that are un-easy to follow but would also create many general misinterpretations of the law and could lead to further racism attitudes. Said racism attitudes would ignite when scrutiny over punishments and who receives them arises while people strive for equality and argue over the degree of fairness received. This scrutiny not only hinders the status of indigenous Australian’s rather than improving it, but can also lead to future hostilities and class/status debates again creating the possibility of a negative impact. There are various other remedies that could be implemented in order to improve the status of Indigenous Australia’s especially with the flexible common law structure, some of which have already beenShow MoreRelatedIndigenous Australians1522 Words   |  7 PagesAustralian aboriginals are a group of people who are deemed to be the indigenous occupants of Australia. The Australian High Court appreciated them to share a common as well as biological ancestry as Australias original occupants (de Plevitz, Croft, 2003). There has however been a lot of ignorance with reference to this group of people more so from the Australians. This has mostly been due to ignorance of these people with most arguments and opinions based on myths (Morphy, Morphy, 1984, p.459-478)Read MoreThe Effectiveness of the Law in Achieving Justice for Indigenous People3090 Words   |  13 PagesThe Effectiveness of the Law in Achieving Justice for Indigenous People In relation to Australia, the term ‘Indigenous peoples’ refers to two distinct cultures of people who inhabited the land prior to European settlement – The Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders. This population declined dramatically over the 19th and early 20th century due to the introduction of new diseases from European settlement, Government policies of dispersal and dispossession, the eraRead MoreHuman Rights And The Rights1857 Words   |  8 Pagesseries of basic rights afforded to all human beings and officially adopted by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), created in 1948. As human rights are soft law and are indoctrinated through international customary law, they are not enforceable, and rely on nation states to consent to enforce these rights under domestic law. Many human rights in Australia have been made into legislation under Australian Parliamentary Democracy and are protected by institutions such as the Australian Human