Human rights — Crimes against humanity — Scope of concept of crimes against humanity — Widespread or systematic violations of human rights — Requirement of discriminatory intent — Persecution as a crime against humanity — Systematic denial of fundamental human rights — Concept of cruel treatment

International criminal law — Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions — Concept of individual criminal responsibility in international law — Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Article 2 — Requirements — Existence of international armed conflict — Requirement that victims be protected persons — Whether satisfied in case of victims of conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina

International criminal law — War crimes — Definition — Essential elements — Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Article 3

International criminal law — Crimes against humanity — Whether international law requires nexus between crimes against humanity and armed conflict — Nuremberg precedent — Mental element required for crime against humanity — Requirement that attack be directed against any civilian population — Whether isolated act can constitute crime against humanity — Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Article 5

International criminal law — Individual criminal responsibility — Degree of participation required — Aiding and abetting — Whether presence at scene of crime sufficient — Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Article 7(1)

International tribunals — International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia — Jurisdiction — Procedure — Evidential standards

War and armed conflict — Armed conflict — Definition — Characterization of conflict as internal or international — Geographical and temporal scope of armed conflict — Whether law of armed conflict applicable to treatment of detainees in part of country where no actual fighting taking place — Internal armed conflicts — Definition

War and armed conflict — Civilians — Fourth Geneva Convention, 1949 — Definition of protected person — Requirement that protected person must be in the hands of a party to the conflict or occupying power of which he is not a national — Interpretation — Civilian detainees — Standards of treatment

War and armed conflict — Internal armed conflicts — Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions, 1949 — Whether declaratory of customary international law — Persons not taking a direct part in hostilities — Definition — Whether applicable to captured members of armed forces

International criminal law — Sentence — Relevant considerations — International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia — Recourse to practice of the courts of the Former Yugoslavia — Gravity of offences — Whether crimes against humanity warrant higher sentence than war crimes — Mitigating circumstances

War and armed conflict — War crimes and crimes against humanity — Gravity — Exceptional character of crimes against humanity — Sentence

Human rights — Discrimination — Racial discrimination — International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965, Article 5(a) — Right to equal treatment before tribunals — Whether proceedings against author in Norwegian courts respecting this right — Whether jury racially biased — Whether racist remarks by juror requiring disqualification of juror — Whether nature of remarks and their impact duly examined by competent judicial bodies of Norway — Whether any discrimination on ground of race, colour or national or ethnic origin — Author alleging violation of rights under Convention by Norway

International tribunals — United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination — Function — Whether required to interpret and apply rules of municipal court — Whether assessing that municipal bodies duly examined contested remarks — Committee making recommendations pursuant to Article 14(7) of the Convention

Human rights — Privacy — Discrimination — Sexual orientation — Homosexuality — Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation — Hostility towards homosexuality in Tasmania — Sections 122(a) and (c) and 123 of Tasmanian Criminal Code — Criminalization of homosexuality — Relevance of non-enforcement of provisions — Whether provisions of Code violating Articles 2(1), 17 and 26 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 — Whether author victim of arbitrary interference with his private life — Attacks on person and reputation — Reasonableness test — Relevance of public health and moral grounds — Equality before the law

Human rights — Discrimination — Sex discrimination — Discrimination on ground of sexual preference — Employer refusing to grant travel concessions to same sex cohabitee of applicant — Availability of travel concession for opposite sex cohabitees of employees — Whether employer’s pay regulations constituting discrimination based on sex — Whether constituting discrimination based on sexual orientation — Whether contrary to Article 119 of European Community Treaty, 1957 (“EC Treaty”) — Relevance of Council Directives 76/207/EEC and 75/117/EEC — Whether employer’s pay regulations contrary to Equal Pay Act 1970 — Whether same sex relationships having same recognition and protection as opposite sex relationships — Human rights as part of EC law

Treaties — EC Treaty — Interpretation of treaty — Scope of treaty — Article 119 of EC Treaty — Whether pay regulations constituting discrimination based on sex contrary to Article 119 of EC Treaty — Whether Article 119 encompassing discrimination based on sexual orientation — Whether same sex relationships equivalent to opposite sex relationships under Community law — Whether Community law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation

Relationship of international law and municipal law — Treaties — International law as part of EC law — Human rights treaties — National court referring to Court of Justice of European Communities for preliminary ruling under Article 177 of EC Treaty — Industrial tribunal seeking ruling as to whether refusal to issue benefit to applicant’s same sex cohabitee constituting discrimination based on sex contrary to Article 119 of EC Treaty — Whether Article 119 of EC Treaty having direct effect — The law of the European Community

Human rights — Privacy — Right to respect for private life — Sexual privacy — Discrimination — Administrative discharge of applicants from armed forces on ground of homosexual orientation — Government policy banning homosexuals from serving in armed forces — Exercise of prerogative power — Defence of the realm — Applicants challenging legality of discharges — Whether challenge justiciable — Whether policy irrational — Public interest of effective fighting force — Grave assault on human rights — Balance of interests — Whether decision of Minister outrageously defying logic or accepted moral standards — Whether policy lawful

Relationship of international law and municipal law — European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1950 — Article 8 — Right to respect for private and family life — Whether Convention part of domestic law of England — Whether applicable — Equal Treatment Directive — Direct effect under European Community law — Distinction between gender and sex discrimination — Whether applicable — The law of England

Human rights — Property rights — Traditional land rights — Plaintiffs seeking legal recognition and protection of land rights — Annexation of Murray Islands to State of Queensland in 1879 — Assumption that traditional land rights surviving annexation for purposes of demurrer — Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act 1985 (Qld) (“Queensland Act”) purporting to extinguish plaintiffs’ rights retrospectively — Whether Queensland Act capable of extinguishing plaintiffs’ rights — Whether Queensland Act discriminatory — Whether Queensland Act inconsistent with Sections 9 and 10 of Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) — Consequences of any inconsistency between State law and Commonwealth law — Section 109 of the Commonwealth Constitution — Whether Queensland Act sufficiently specific — Whether Queensland Parliament possessing requisite power — Whether any interference with judicial process

Treaties — International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965 (“the Convention”) — Article 5(d) — Right to own and inherit property — Implicit right to enjoy protection from arbitrary dispossession of one’s property — Whether Queensland Act contrary to the Convention

Relationship of international law and municipal law — Treaties — International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965 — Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) giving effect to treaty in Australian law — Human rights — Article 5(d) of the Convention — Right to own and inherit property — Right to enjoy protection from arbitrary dispossession of one’s property — Whether Queensland Act inconsistent with Sections 9 and 10 of Racial Discrimination Act — Validity of State law — Section 109 of Commonwealth Constitution — The law of Australia

Territory — Title — Effects of change of sovereignty — Annexation — Annexation of Murray Islands to State of Queensland on 1 August 1879 — British Crown acquiring sovereignty over the Murray Islands upon annexation — Legal consequences of annexation — Laws of Queensland including common law of England becoming the laws of the Murray Islands — Doctrine of universal and absolute Crown ownership — Relevance — Whether British Crown acquiring absolute beneficial ownership as well as radical title to the Murray Islands upon annexation — Whether Meriam people legally entitled to land in the Murray Islands — Classification of rights in the land — whether any pre-existing rights of the Meriam people in land extinguished upon annexation — Capacity of the British Crown to extinguish interests in land — Whether recognition of any rights or interests necessary by British Crown — Whether rights in land dependent on Crown grants — Powers and obligations of the defendant — Whether British Crown owing Meriam people a fiduciary duty — Consequences of any breach of trust or fiduciary obligation

Territory — Acquisition of sovereignty — Modes of acquisition — Customary international law accepting conquest, cession and settlement as valid modes — Expansion of terra nullius doctrine — Application of doctrine to inhabited land if peoples considered too primitive to possess proprietary rights — Acquisition of beneficial ownership of land as well as sovereignty where no other proprietor found to exist — Annexation of Murray Islands to Colony of Queensland on 1 August 1879 — British Crown acquiring sovereignty — Meriam people being indigenous inhabitants of Murray Islands — Whether application of expanded terra nullius doctrine appropriate

Human rights — Property rights — Recognition of indigenous land rights — Legal rights of Meriam people to the land of the Murray Islands — Whether native title or any interests in land existing prior to annexation — Whether native title or other interests in land surviving annexation — Nature and incidents of native title — Reference to laws and customs of Meriam people — Relevance — Whether native title extinguished — Whether extinguishment possible — Need to balance conformity to universal human rights with retention of skeletal principles of municipal legal system — Australia’s accession to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — Racial discrimination — Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth), Sections 9 and 10(1) — Whether rendering any future deed of grant in trust unlawful

Relationship of international law and municipal law — Acquisition of sovereignty — Annexation — Act of State — Whether State sovereignty over territory justiciable by municipal courts

Damages — Compensatory damages — Whether any grant by Crown inconsistent with native title giving rise to claim for compensatory damages — Declaratory relief — Whether appropriate — The law of Australia

Human rights — Property rights — Land rights — Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth) (“ldquo;Land Rights Act”rdquo;) — Land having valid and subsisting native title — Effect of Mabo v. Queensland (No. 2) — Whether Land Rights Act permitting grant of land — Whether grant consistent with preservation of native title — Whether consent of native titleholders necessary — Whether grant of land extinguishing native title

Human rights — Discrimination — Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth), Sections 9(1), 10(1) and (3)(a) and (b) — Whether Land Rights Act 1976 discriminatory — Whether Racial Discrimination Act preventing the granting of land under the Land Rights Act — Whether Land Rights Act prevailing in event of conflict

Treaties — Human rights — Racial discrimination — International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965 — Effect of Australian ratification of the Convention — Applicability of Article 1(4) in Australia — Whether Land Rights Act constituting a “ldquo;special measure”rdquo; — The law of Australia

Territory — Sovereignty — Laws applicable in territory — Aboriginal people living in territory of New South Wales — Applicability of criminal laws of New South Wales to aboriginals — Whether Commonwealth and State parliaments having legislative capacity with respect to aboriginals — Whether aboriginal consent to laws necessary — Whether new source of sovereignty residing in aboriginal people — Customary aboriginal criminal law — Whether surviving British settlement — Whether Australian criminal law accommodating parallel operation of customary criminal law — Effect of Mabo v. Queensland (No. 2) — The law of Australia

Human rights — Property rights — Indigenous land rights — Recognition of native title in Mabo v. Queensland (No. 2) — Whether native title surviving colonization of Western Australia — Land (Titles and Traditional Usage) Act 1993 (WA) (“WA Act”) — State law purporting to extinguish native title — Substitution with statutory rights of traditional usage — Sections 5 and 7 — Validity of WA Act — Whether discriminatory — Whether denying aboriginals equal enjoyment of certain human rights — Rights to own and to inherit property — Right to equal treatment before tribunals and other organs — International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965, Article 5 — Section 10 of Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) implementing Article 5 of Convention — Whether WA Act inconsistent with Section 10(1) of Racial Discrimination Act — Whether WA Act inconsistent with the Commonwealth Native Title Act — Whether WA Act having any legal operation by virtue of Section 109 of the Constitution

Human rights — Property rights — Indigenous land rights — Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (“Native Title Act”) — Commonwealth law governing recognition, protection, extinguishment and impairment of native title — Operation of Act — Whether Act empowered by Section 51(xxvi) of the Constitution — Whether State law or Commonwealth law prevailing in event of inconsistency — Validity of provisions of Native Title Act — Sections 7, 11(1) and 12 — Whether severable — Whether Act invalid by reason of Section 53 of the Constitution — Whether Act discriminating against Western Australia or impairing its legislative or executive functions — Whether Act beyond the legislative powers of Parliament — The law of Australia

Comity — Principle that courts of one State will not sit in judgement on the acts of another State within its own territory — Whether English court entitled to rule upon constitutionality of foreign government

Governments — Republic of Cyprus — 1960 Constitution of Cyprus — Formula for sharing power between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities — Whether still functioning — Whether present Government of the Republic of Cyprus lawfully constituted — Treaty of Guarantee, 1960

International organizations — European Union — Accession of new member — Republic of Cyprus — Decision by European Council to open accession negotiations with Republic of Cyprus — Government of United Kingdom voting in favour — Whether decision of United Kingdom Government subject to judicial review in English courts

Relationship of international law and municipal law — Conduct of foreign relations — Relations between United Kingdom Government and Government of the Republic of Cyprus — Whether contrary to English law — Cyprus Act 1960 — Cyprus Order in Council 1960 — Whether making Cyprus Constitution part of English law — Whether incorporating Treaty of Guarantee, 1960, into English law

States — Independence — Cyprus — Effect of legislation conferring independence in 1960 — The law of England