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Yanner v. Eaton

Pays/Territoire
Australie
Type de cour
Autres
Date
Oct 7, 1999
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Nom du tribunal
High Court of Australia
Juge
Gleeson
Guadron
McHugh
Gummow
Kirby
Hayne
Callinan
Numéro de référence
HCA 53
Langue
Anglais
Sujet
Espèces sauvages et écosystèmes
Mot clé
Protection des espèces Espèces halieutiques protégées Patrimoine culturel Espèces animales protégées Espèces végétales protégées
Résumé
The appellant is a member of the Gunnamulla Clan of the Gangalidda tribe of Aboriginal Australia. Between 31 October and 1 December 1994 he used a traditional form of harpoon to catch two juvenile estuarine crocodiles in Cliffdale Creek in the Gulf of Carpentaria area of Queensland. He and members of his clan ate some of the crocodile meat; he froze the rest and kept the crocodile skins at home. The appellant had no license, permit, certificate or authority under the Fauna Conservation Act 1994. He was charged and acquitted by the Magistrate Court which found that the taking of juvenile rather than the adult crocodiles had “tribal totemic significance and was based on spiritual belief”. The informant appealed. The High Court set aside the order of the magistrate. The appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal. The evidence and findings of the court pointed inexorably to a direct collision between the custom or rights claimed in the case, of taking and eating crocodiles, and the ownership of them by the State of Queensland. The opinion was divided but the court eventually allowed the appeal. The exercise of the native title right to hunt was a matter within the control of the appellant’s indigenous community. The legislative regulation of that control, by requiring an indigenous person to obtain a permit under the Fauna Act in order to exercise the privilege to hunt, did not abrogate the native title right. Rather, the regulation was consistent with the continued existence of that right. Regulating particular aspects or the usufructuary relation with the traditional land did not sever the connection of the Aboriginal peoples with their land.
Texte intégral
Compendium_Vol__II.pdf
Disponible en
UNEP/UNDP/Dutch Government Joint Project on Environmental Law in Africa, Compendium of Judicial Decisions on Matters related to Environment, National Decisions, Volume II, Page 310