| Tuckiar v The King | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Court | High Court of Australia |
| Decided | 8 November 1934 |
| Citations | [1934] HCA 49, (1934) 52 CLR 335 |
| Court membership | |
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Tuckiar v The King is a landmark 1934 judgment of the High Court of Australia. The matter examined the behaviour of the judge and lawyers in the trial of Yolngu man Dhakiyarr (Tuckiar) Wirrpanda in the Northern Territory Supreme Court a year earlier for one of the Caledon Bay murders, and overturned the judgment which had found the appellant guilty and sentenced him to death.
The case was decided on 8 November 1934, after a two-day hearing on 29–30 October 1934. At the time, the original case had stirred much controversy and caused a debate about the appropriateness of the Australian justice system for Indigenous Australians. It has become a case study in, and raises many issues for, legal ethics regarding instructions by judges and the behaviour of defence counsel, as well as the treatment of Indigenous people before the Australian justice system.