Property as Governance

Time, Space and Belonging in A ustralia's N orthern Territory Intervention

Bibliographic Data

ID9196871
AuthorsSarah Keenan (0000-0003-4258-3331, SOAS University of London, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume76
Issue3
Pages464-493
Publication date2013-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Law Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-7961 • E-ISSN: 1468-2230
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-2230.12021
OpenAlexW1911976407
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited27

This article analyses two cases brought by aboriginal A ustralians against the A ustralian government acquisition of long leases of their land under the N orthern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007. These leases are conspicuous, particularly in that the government always made it clear that it would not take up its right to exclusive possession of the leased land, and has not done so. The leases have not been used to evict residents, as some feared; nor to pursue mining or agricultural activity. Socio‐legal theories centered on the right to exclusive possession cannot account for these leases. The article explores the use of property under the 2007 Act, the legal geographies of the areas subject to the leases and the political potency of property beyond exclusive possession, and suggests an understanding of property as a spatially contingent relation of belonging. Specifically, the article argues that property is productive of temporal and spatial order and so can function as a tool of governance

Agriculture · Business · Corporate governance · Economics · Expropriation · Geography · Government (linguistics) · Intervention (counseling) · Land tenure · Law and economics · Order (exchange) · Political science · Politics · Possession (linguistics) · Property (philosophy) · Property law · Property rights · Space (punctuation) · Finance · Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact · Law · Legal principles and applications · Mining and Resource Management