Mabo v. Queensland High Court of Australia, 1992. Facts: The Merriam people (plaintiffs) are the indigenous tribe of the Murray Islands, which are located off the coast of Australia (defendant). In 1879, explorers from the United Kingdom arrived on the Murray Islands and declared it part of the Crown, of which Australia was also a part. According to the Crown, any title the Merriam people had to their land was extinguished at the time the Crown became their new sovereign. The Merriam people brought this lawsuit to establish their legal rights to the land on the Murray Islands. Issue: Does a change in sovereign extinguish native title to land? Holding: No, so long as the native people (and their descendants) maintain a close relation with their culture and land. However, their land cannot be transferred to others. Reasoning: Acquisition of territory by a new sovereign does not extinguish native title to land. Under older colonial theories of sovereignty and land ownership, land acquired by explorers and occupiers was considered terra nullius, which literally means no one’s land, because indigenous peoples were believed to be so low on the scale of social organization that they were incapable of having land rights. This allowed governments like the Crown to claim the land was unoccupied and declare it for themselves. These antiquated concepts of land ownership and occupancy are inconsistent with modern understandings of human rights and justice, and must be rejected. Instead, courts must acknowledge that indigenous people are capable of maintaining a proprietary interest in their land in the form of native title. This native title is not automatically extinguished simply because a new sovereign takes control over the land. Rather, native title survives, unless the title expressly and explicitly extinguished by executive or legislative action. Native title can only be possessed by those who are indigenous inhabitants or their descendants, and the title cannot be sold to individuals who are not native. Additionally, native title may be lost if indigenous groups abandon their traditional cultures and customs. Here, the Merriam people have maintained a strong allegiance to their indigenous culture and customs. Moreover, the Crown never explicitly acted to extinguish native title when it acquired the Murray Islands in 1879. However, if the Crown acted to validly grant land to private non-indigenous individuals, this did extinguish native title to the extent that those grants were inconsistent with native title. Likewise, if the Crown appropriated land for governmental purposes, such as roads, and those appropriations were inconsistent with native title, this also extinguished native title. Thus, the Merriam people are entitled to the Murray Islands, but only to the extent that their native title is not inconsistent with prior grants, appropriations, or Australian law.