Outmoded legal systems

Concepts such as "terra nullius", "conquest" and "discovery" as modes of territorial acquisition which are repugnant, have no legal standing, and are entirely without merit or justification to substantiate any claim to jurisdiction or ownership of indigenous lands and ancestral domains. However the legacies of these concepts persist in various forms in modern legal systems.

In a number of legal systems colonial laws and concepts are used to justify the imposition of "trusteeship", and other demeaning, prejudicial and racially founded systems which prevent indigenous peoples from exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms, resulting in their impoverishment, disenfranchisement, debasement, demoralization and disintegration.

Many present law enforcement methods and judicial systems are outdated and do not relate to the basic requirements of the people. The complexity of legal systems discourages revision, repeal or creation of laws. This merely reinforces the antiquated laws along with the more adequate ones. The static state of such systems leaves little room for changing needs and restricts the necessary revitalization within the legal base.