Sovereignty and the Impact of Colonisation

The assertion of sovereigntyTreatysovereignty is an important dimension of claims by Indigenous peoples in AustraliaSovereigntyAustralia and is founded on the fact that sovereignty was never ceded to the UK at the time of colonisation. On the other hand, the courts have consistently applied the doctrine of effectiveness as the basis for finding that because the colonising power succeeded in extinguishing Indigenous political authority, sovereignty passed to the UK. For this reason, and notwithstanding that sovereignty was acquired by force rather than being voluntarily ceded, the sovereignty of the Crown cannot be challenged in the courts. This chapter examines the law relating to sovereignty andSelf-determinationsovereignty and concludes that while loss of Indigenous sovereignty is irreversible as a matter of historical fact and law, that would not prevent parliament from restoringSovereigntyself-determination and self-determination, the key incident of sovereigntySovereigntyAustralia, back to the Australia’s Indigenous peoples.