Ure v The Commonwealth of Australia [2016] FCAFC 8

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Ure v The Commonwealth of Australia [2016] FCAFC 8 Appeal from: Ure v Commonwealth of Australia (2015) 323 ALR 164

File number: NSD 343 of 2015

Judges: PERRAM, ROBERTSON & MOSHINSKY JJ

Date of judgment: 4 February 2016

Catchwords: PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW – whether there is a rule of international law pursuant to which an individual can acquire proprietary rights over terra nullius which nation states must recognise – whether such a rule existed as a matter of customary international law – whether such a rule existed as a general principle of law which was capable of operation on an international level – whether existence of such a rule could be proved by dint of judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – special case – meaning of relevant question

Legislation: Constitution s 51(xxxi) Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) r 38.01 Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) s 45D General Act of the Berlin Conference Concerning the Congo of 1885 Art 35 Statute of the International Court of Justice Art 38(1) Treaty concerning the Archipelago of Spitsbergen, opened for signature 9 February 1920, 2 LNTS 7 (entered into force 14 August 1925)

Cases cited: Al-Kateb v Godwin (2004) 219 CLR 562 Attorney-General for British Honduras v Bristowe (1880) 6 App Cas 143 Jacobsen v Norwegian Government (1940) 7 ILR 109; [1933] Norske Retstidende 511 Johnson v McIntosh (1823) 21 US 543 Kuru v New South Wales (2008) 236 CLR 1 Lübeck v Mecklenburg-Schwerin (cited in Hackworth GH, infra) Mabo v Queensland [No 2] (1992) 175 CLR 1 Maritime Delimitation in the Area Between Greenland and Jan Mayen (Denmark v Norway) (Judgment) [1993] ICJ Rep 38 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America) (Merits) [1986] ICJ Rep 14 Mulcahy v Curramore Pty Ltd [1974] 2 NSWLR 464 North Sea Continental Shelf (Federal Republic of Germany v Denmark) (Merits) [1969] ICJ Rep 3 Polyukhovich v Commonwealth (1991) 172 CLR 501 United States v Fullard-Leo 133 F.2d 743 (9th Cir 1943) United States v Fullard-Leo 331 US 256 (1947) Akehurst M, A Modern Introduction to International Law (2nd ed, George Allen and Unwin, 1971) Akehurst M, 'Custom as a Source of International Law' (1974-75) 47 British Yearbook of International Law 1 Crawford J, Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law (8th ed, Oxford University Press, 2012) Crawford J, Chance, Order, Change: The Course of International Law, General Course on Public International Law (Hague Academy of International Law, 2014) Grotius H, De Jure Belli ac Pacis Libri Tres, Kelsey FW (trans), The Classics of International Law, Brown Scott J (ed) (Clarendon Press, 1925) Vol 2 Hackworth GH, Hackworth's Digest of International Law (United States Government Printing Office, 1940) Vol I Jennings R and Watts A (eds), Oppenheim's International Law (9th ed, Longman, 1992) Lansing R, 'A Unique International Problem' (1917) 11 American Journal of International Law 763 Lesaffer R, 'Argument from Roman Law in Current International Law: Occupation and Acquisitive Prescription' (2005) 16(1) EJIL 25 Lindley MF, The Acquisition and Government of Backward Territory in International Law (Longmans, Green & Co Ltd, 1926) Numminen L, 'A History of Functioning of the Spitsbergen Treaty' in Wallis D and Arnold S (eds), The Spitsbergen Treaty: Multilateral Governance in the Arctic (Arctic Papers, 2011) Vol 1 Roberts E, Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat (Harper & Brothers, 1837) Roberts-Wray K, Commonwealth and Colonial Law (Stevens & Sons, 1966) Ryngaert C, Jurisdiction in International Law (Oxford University Press, 2008) Shaw MN, International Law (6th ed, Cambridge University Press, 2008) Thirlway H, The Law and Procedure of the International Court of Justice: Fifty Years of Jurisprudence (Oxford University Press, 2013) Twiss T, The Oregon Question Examined (Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1846) Vattel E, Le Droit des Gens, (trans), The Law of Nations, Chitty J (ed) (T & JW Johnson & Co, 1863) Wall P, 'The High Court of Australia's Approach to the Interpretation of International Law and Its Use of International Legal Materials in Maloney v The Queen [2013] HCA 28' (2014) 15 MelbJIntLaw 228 Westlake J, Chapters on the Principles of International Law (Cambridge University Press, 1894) Westlake J, International Law: Part 1, Peace (1st ed, Cambridge University Press, 1910) Zimmerman A et al, The Statute of the International Court of Justice (2nd ed, Oxford University Press, 2012)