Wikiversity Law Reports/Yanner v Eaton

High Court of Australia

TL;DR: 'Property' is shorthand for a bundle of rights; which rights are meant will depend on the purpose of the statute; vesting certain 'property' rights over X in 'B' does not extinguish other rights over X held by 'A'.

Facts

 * Y, an Aboriginal person, caught a wild crocodile without obtaining a permit.
 * E charged Y with the offence of taking fauna without a permit.
 * The Fauna Conservation Act 1974 (Qld) provided that all wild animals were 'property' of the Crown.
 * The Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) provided that State law could not prevent an Aboriginal person from exercising their native title right to hunt &c.

Held

 * The Fauna Conservation Act 1974 vested some rights in the Crown but did not extinguish the native title rights and interests in fauna. Therefore, at the time the Native Title Act 1993, there continued to be a native title right to hunt &c which the Native Title Act preserved from that time onwards.
 * Therefore Queensland law could not prohibit Y from catching the crocodile and he had not committed an offence.

Other publishers' references

 * [1999 HCA 53]
 * (1999) 201 CLR 351