The recognition of Aboriginal title and its relationship with settler state land titles systems

This paper is the first step in a larger project that considers two linked questions. The first question is whether it is possible to create space for Aboriginal title within settler state land titles systems. The second question is whether it is possible to preserve the integrity of indigenous conceptions of property within settler state land titles systems. We are concerned in this paper with only the first question. The premise of the project is that in at least some cases indigenous communities may want to take advantage of the settler state's land titles systems. One reason for doing so may be to facilitate economic development by community members or third parties by providing financial institutions with access to a familiar method for taking and recording security in Aboriginal title land. Our goal is 'not' to make a case for registration. Instead, our project is the more limited one of assessing the objections that may be made to bringing Aboriginal title lands into the land titles system of the settler state, either from the perspective of the settler state or from the perspective of indigenous communities.