Dr. Ulla Secher

Contact Details

Biography

Dr. Secher completed her doctoral thesis focusing on Land Law/ Native Title in June 2003 and her continuing research in this area resulted in the Federal Court of Australia accepting, in February 2005, the theory that she proposed to explain the rationale underlying the High Court’s resolution of the potential inconsistency between the common law theory of tenures and traditional Aboriginal rights in land when the Crown acquired sovereignty over Australia, which she termed ‘the doctrine of continuity pro-tempore’ (see Gumana v Northern Territory [2005] FCA 50 at [121]). This theory replaces the two formerly distinct, yet established, doctrines of ‘continuity’ and ‘recognition’ in the Australian real property law context and has significant implications for Aboriginal land rights.

Dr. Secher’s Honours thesis, completed in 1995 and entitled ‘Equitable Estoppel: Emergence and Development of Substantive Estoppel’, has also been cited by Nase DCJ (now of the Supreme Court) in his reasons for judgment in White v Quin (unreported, District Court of Queensland, Nase DCJ, 14th October 1996.

Dr. Secher graduated Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours from James Cook University in 1995 and was awarded the University Medal for that year. During her undergraduate career, she was presented with a wide range of University awards including the Kenneth Sutton Prize in Law for the student graduating Bachelor of Laws with the most distinguished academic record throughout her or his undergraduate course and the Marilyn Mayo Medal for Bachelor of Laws Honours, for the student graduating Bachelor of Laws with Honours with the highest mark for their Honours thesis.

Dr. Secher was admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1998. She has been an active member of the Townsville Community Legal Service Management Committee since 2000 and has been a member of the Faculty of Law, Business and the Creative Arts Research Committee since 2002. She is currently a member of the Law School’s Research Committee and Workloads Policy Committee as well as co-convener of the 2006 Law School’s Seminar Program, securing Magistrate David Glasgow as the first speaker for the year.

Teaching Interests

• Land Law

• Equity

• Torts A

• Law of Business Organisations

• Honours Coordinator: Research Dissertation A and B

Main Areas of Research

• Land Law

• Native Title

Publications

U. Secher, ‘Native Title: An Exception to Indefeasibility and a Ground for Invoking the Deferred Indefeasibility Theory’ (2000) 7 James Cook University Law Review 17-73.

U. Secher, H. A. Amankwah, ‘Native Title, Crown Property and Resources: Post-Mabo Judicial Interpretations of Statutory Declarations and Statutory Vesting Provisions’ (2002/3) 9 James Cook University Law Review Special Issue: Native Title: A Decade after Mabo 109-225.

U. Secher, ‘The Reception of Land Law into the Australian Colonies Post-Mabo: The Continuity and Recognition Doctrines Revisited and the Emergence of the Doctrine of ‘Continuity Pro-Tempore’ (2004) 27(3) University of New South Wales Law Journal 703-735.

U. Secher, ‘The Meaning of Radical Title: The Pre-Mabo Authorities Explained – Part I’, (2005) 11(3) Australian Property Law Journal 179-208.

U. Secher, ‘Aboriginal Customary Law Versus Native Title: the Mabo Decision - Preserving theDistinction between ‘Settled’ and ‘Conquered or Ceded’ Territories’ (2005) 24(1) University of Queensland Law Journal 35-72.

U. Secher, ‘The Meaning of Radical Title: The Pre-Mabo Authorities Explained – Part II’, (2005) 11(3) Australian Property Law Journal 209-243.

U. Secher, ‘Case Note: Jones v Public Trustee of Queensland and Another [2004] QCA 269 (6 August 2004) - Recognition of Aboriginal Customary Law and the Mabo principle’ (2005) 11 James Cook University Law Review 179-185.

U. Secher, ‘A Common Law Doctrine of Suspension of Native Title? Judicial Interpretations of the ‘Reversion Expectant Argument’ and the concept of ‘Operational Inconsistency’: Part I’ (2005) 12(1) Australian Property Law Journal 1-25.

U. Secher, ‘A Common Law Doctrine of Suspension of Native Title? Judicial Interpretations of the ‘Reversion Expectant Argument’ and the concept of ‘Operational Inconsistency’: Part 2’ (2005) 12(1) Australian Property Law Journal 26-67.

U. Secher, ‘The Legal Nature of the Crown’s Title on the Grant of a Common Law Lease Post-Mabo: Implications of the High Court’s Treatment of the ‘Reversion Expectant’ Argument: Part I’ (in press)

U. Secher, ‘The Legal Nature of the Crown’s Title on the Grant of a Common Law Lease Post-Mabo: Implications of the High Court’s Treatment of the ‘Reversion Expectant’ Argument: Part II’ (in press)

U. Secher, ‘The Doctrine of Tenure in Australia Post-Mabo: Replacing the ‘Feudal Fiction’ with the ‘Mere Radical Title Fiction’ – Part 1’ (2006) 13(2) Australian Property Law Journal 107-139

U. Secher, ‘The Doctrine of Tenure in Australia Post-Mabo: Replacing the ‘Feudal Fiction’ with the ‘Mere Radical Title Fiction’ – Part 2’ (2006) 13(2) Australian Property Law Journal 140-178