Law: The Way of the Ancestors makes the case that Indigenous Australian law is not a historical artefact but a living, sophisticated system — one that has sustained communities across more than 2,000 generations and holds genuine relevance for global crises today.
About This Book
Marcia Langton and Aaron Corn trace the foundations of Indigenous law across Australia, arguing that law and culture are inseparable — each constituting the other. Handed down by the ancestors and refined over millennia, these legal systems define community, responsibility, and the relationship between people and country. Far from static, they are dynamic frameworks that have enabled Indigenous Australians to adapt to profound environmental and social upheaval across 65,000 years. This volume in the First Knowledges series asks a pressing question: what can these living legal traditions teach the rest of the world as it confronts ecological and social instability? Essential reading for anyone engaged with Indigenous knowledge, land rights, or the future of governance.
Key Features
- 224 pages of scholarly yet accessible writing on Indigenous Australian legal traditions and their contemporary relevance
- Edited by Marcia Langton and Aaron Corn
- Published by Thames & Hudson Australia, 2000
What You'll Discover
- How Indigenous law functions simultaneously as cultural identity, ecological stewardship, and social governance — not as separate domains but as a unified system
- The mechanisms by which Indigenous legal frameworks have enabled communities to respond and adapt to major environmental and social changes over tens of thousands of years
- Why these systems are considered living and evolving rather than fixed or archaic, and what that distinction means for contemporary legal and political thought
- How Indigenous law might inform new approaches to global challenges, from climate resilience to community wellbeing
About the Author
Marcia Langton is a leading Australian scholar of Indigenous studies whose work spans anthropology, policy, and advocacy. Aaron Corn is a researcher with deep expertise in Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural sustainability. Together they have shaped one of the most important volumes in Thames & Hudson Australia's First Knowledges series.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 224
- Dimensions: 196 x 131mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781760762827
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson Australia
- Publication Date: 2000
Perfect For: Readers engaged with Indigenous Australian knowledge systems, legal scholars, students of anthropology and governance, architects and designers working on Country, and anyone seeking frameworks for thinking about land, community, and resilience.