Mabo & Ors v The State of Queensland

The parties to this matter before the High Court of Australia were Eddie Mabo and James Rice, acting on behalf of their respective families, as plaintiffs, and the State of Queensland and the Commonwealth of Australia, as defendants. The dispute concerned the nature and extent of traditional native title and usufructuary rights claimed by the plaintiffs in relation to land. The case was presented to the court by way of a case stated pursuant to section 18 of the Judiciary Act.

The central legal issues before the court involved determining the precise content of the rights claimed by the plaintiffs, which were described as rights of ownership by custom and traditional native title. A significant question was whether these rights, as pleaded and potentially proven by evidence, were extinguished by the Queensland Coastal Islands Declaratory Act 1985. The court was also required to consider the legal effect of sections 30 and 40 of the Constitution Act of the colony of Queensland and whether they could be repealed by subsequent Acts of Parliament without adhering to specific manner or form requirements.

The court's reasoning, as indicated by the transcript, focused on the construction of the relevant legislation and the nature of the rights asserted. Counsel for the plaintiffs argued that the precise content of the native title rights was crucial in determining whether they were extinguished by the 1985 Act, suggesting that the question of extinguishment might ultimately be hypothetical depending on the evidence presented. The submissions also touched upon the power of the Queensland Parliament to repeal provisions of its Constitution Act, drawing a parallel with legislative action in New South Wales concerning similar matters.