Year
1999
Jurisdiction
Northern Territory
Forum
Federal Court
Issues (legal)
Rights and interests - commercial
Rights and interests - sea
Summary
Beaumont, von Doussa, and Merkel JJ
The Court upheld Olney J’s decision to grant only non-exclusive rights. The Court noted that exclusive rights could not be granted as this would ‘fracture the skeletal principle of the freedom of the seas’ by conflicting with Australia’s international obligation to permit innocent passage of ships. The Court noted that the right to trade could be an integral aspect of a right to possession.