Case summary: Griffiths v Minister for Lands Planning and Environment [2008]

On 15 May 2008, the High Court of Australia handed down a decision in its first native title case for some years with little fanfare or media coverage. The case concerned a compulsory acquisition of native title by the Northern Territory government in the Timber Creek township. The case required the High Court to consider some fundamental questions of the reach of executive power to divest private citizens of their property. The case therefore has broader reach than the acquisition of native title. Indeed, while there are many issues that could have been considered in the jurisprudence of native title, the majority of the Court dealt with the case as one concerning any ordinary title.