Jacinta Ruru, an expert in Maori Indigenous law, will present the Elliott Johnston Memorial Lecture 2015 in Adelaide this week.

University of Otago Associate Professor Ruru has widely explored the role of “first laws”, or laws of Indigenous peoples, within settler legal systems.

If settler legal systems wish to realise aspirations for legal reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, then an important component of this is to recognise Indigenous people laws, she says.

“This talk will consider how the common law and legislation ought to be embracing Indigenous laws, with a comparative perspective with Aotearoa New Zealand.”

The Elliott Johnston Memorial Lecture, to be held on Tuesday 1 December at Pilgrim Uniting Church in Flinders St, city – opposite Flinders in Victoria Square – fits with the “Inside Out” theme of this year’s Law and Society Association of Australia (LSAANZ) Conference hosted by Flinders University this week (to 3 December).

Registrations are still welcome for the free 5.30pm public lecture, hosted by the Flinders Law School and Office of Indigenous Strategy and Engagement, and Johnston Withers Lawyers.

Keynote and panel presentations at the Inside Out conference include:

• State University of New York Distinguished Emerita Professor Lynn Mather will address “Is law inside or out? And why does it matter?”
• Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor Margaret Davies will speak on “Law’s Aliens.”
• How to better engage Indigenous knowledge and move towards putting the colonial imaginary of the savage to rest.
• Major works in feminism and law: a 25-year anniversary celebration.
• Earth jurisprudence: geography, science and property.

Other topics include citizenship, rights, restorative and social justice, legal institutions and the profession, legal geography and the transformation of law.