Mabo
/ˈmɑːbəʊ
/noun
Used in reference to the 1992 ruling of the High Court of Australia that Aboriginal claims on land supersede Crown sovereignty and white settlement: since Mabo, Australia effectively has two land tenure systems...
- Grumblers and critics about Mabo remain.
- After Mabo, it became part of the common law of Australia that, in 1788, the indigenous Aboriginal inhabitants had developed a traditional system of property law known in the common law as native title.
- Mabo was the first case where the full bench of the High Court was asked to consider the common-law recognition of land rights.
Origin
1990s: from the name of Eddie Mabo (1936–92), a principal claimant in a legal test case of 1992 that established tenure in relation to the Meriam people.