Native American Law:
what is it?
• Primary Sources: Treaties; Tribal
Constitutions, Codes, and Court Decisions;
federal law that impacts Natives; federal
regulations and special court decisions
(Indian Claims Commission, U.S. Court of
Claims).
• Secondary Sources: legislative history, tribal
histories, anthropological studies, language
and cultural issues.
Native American Law:
Important Distinction
• There is an important distinction that must be
recognized between Federal Indian Law
and Customary Tribal Law.
• Federal Indian Law is the collection of
treaties, statutes, case law, and federal policy
that impacts Natives.
• Customary Tribal Law is the internal law of
each Tribe or Nation (562 federallyrecognized tribes). Traditionally, this was
passed from generation to generation in oral
stories.
Primary Sources of Federal Indian
Law
• U. S. Code – Title 25
• Code of Federal Regulations – Title 25
• United States Statutes at Large volume 7
(1789 - 1845)
• Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties
Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. 7
volumes. Also available online at Oklahoma
State University:
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/index.htm
Sources of Federal Indian Law - 1
Federal Indian Law is covered in the
following materials:
• Felix Cohen’s Handbook on Federal
Indian Law (1941 edition).
(http://thorpe.ou.edu/cohen.html)
• Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law
Newark, NJ: LexisNexis, 2005 ed. / [editor-in-chief, Nell Jessup
Newton ; executive editors, Robert T. Anderson ... [et al.] ;
associate editor, Bethany R. Berger ; contributing authors,
Kenneth Bobroff ... [et al.]]./ $189.00
Library of Congress Call #: E98.L34 C633 2005
Sources of Federal Indian Law - 2
• American Indian Law in a Nutshell, St. Paul, MN :
West, 5th ed. 2009, William C. Canby, Jr. / $33.00
• Cases and Materials on Federal Indian Law, St.
Paul, Minn: Thomson/West, 5th ed., 2005, David H. Getches,
Charles F. Wilkinson, Robert A. Williams, Jr. / $150.00
• Landmark Indian Law Cases, Buffalo, N.Y.: William S.
Hein & Co., 2002. / $95.00
• The Rights of Indians and Tribes: the
Authoritative ACLU Guide to Indian and Tribal
Rights, by Stephen L. Pevar.
Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 2002. / $20.00
• Encyclopedia of United States Indian policy
and law / 2 vols. edited by Paul Finkelman, Tim Alan
Garrison. Washington, D.C. : CQ Press, c2009 / $325.00
Sources of Federal Indian Law - 3
• Documents of American Indian Diplomacy:
Treaties, Agreements, and Conventions, 17751979 / 2 vols. Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1999,
[compiled by] Vine Deloria, Jr., and Raymond J. DeMallie; with a
foreword by Daniel K. Inouye. / $125.00
• American Indian Sovereignty and Law: an
annotated bibliography / edited by Wade Davies,
Richmond L. Clow. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2009. / $150.00
• Native American Natural Resources Law: Cases
and Materials, Carolina Academic Press, 2008, 2d. ed., by Judith
Royster, Michael C. Blumm. / $90.00
• Documents of Native American Political
Development: 1500s to 1933 / [edited by] David E.
Wilkins. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009. / $99.00
Federal Indian Law - 4
with an emphasis on Museums and Archives
• Spirited encounters: American Indians Protest
Museum Policies and Practices / Karen Coody Cooper.
Lanham, MD : AltaMira Press, c2008. / $27.95
• Native American Voices on Identity, Art, and
Culture: Objects of Everlasting Esteem / edited by
Lucy Fowler Williams, William Wierzbowski, and Robert W. Preucel.
Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology, c2005. / $49.95
• Caring for American Indian Objects: a Practical
and Cultural Guide / edited by Sherelyn Ogden. St. Paul :
Minnesota Historical Society Press, c2004 / $39.95
• Tribal Cultural Resource Management: the Full
Circle to Stewardship / Darby C. Stapp and Michael S.
Burney. Walnut Creek, CA : AltaMira Press, c2002. / $30.95
Federal Indian Law – 5
with an emphasis on Museums and Archives
•Opening Archaeology: Repatriation's Impact
on Contemporary Research and Practice / edited
by Thomas W. Killion. Santa Fe: School for Advanced Research Press,
2008. / $29.95
•Cross-cultural Collaboration: Native Peoples
and Archaeology in the Northeastern United
States / edited by Jordan E. Kerber; with a foreword by Joe
Watkins. Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 2006 / $24.95 (paper)
$59.95 (hardcover)
•Legal Perspectives on Cultural Resources /
edited by Jennifer R. Richman and Marion P. Forsyth. / Walnut Creek,
Calif. : Altamira Press, c2004. / $30.95 (paper) $80.00 (hardcover)
Federal Indian Law – 6
Laws & Regulations
•Native American Graves Protection
and Repatriation Act
http://www.nps.gov/history/nagpra/
•American Indian Arts & Crafts Act
http://www.artnatam.com/law.html
•U.S. Dept of Interior
Indian Arts & Crafts Board
http://www.doi.gov/iacb/
•Archives Library Information Center (ALIC):
Indians/Native Americans
http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/native-americans.html
Sources of Tribal (Customary) Law
• Tribal Law Journal (University of New Mexico
student-managed online journal: http://tlj.unm.edu).
• National Indian Law Library (affiliated with
Native American Rights Fund:
http://www.narf.org/nill/index.htm)
• David Selden (dselden@narf.org) is an excellent
resource for obtaining tribal codes. NILL Phone:
303-447-8760
• West's American tribal law reporter: cases
decided in American tribal law courts, and
decisions of the United States Courts of
Appeals and Supreme Court of the United
States. [Eagan, Minn.] : West, c20097 vols. (so far) / $1,575.00
National Indian Law Library
(http://www.narf.org/nill/index.htm)
Native American Rights Fund
(http://www.narf.org/)
Searching the NILL - Tribal Law Gateway:
http://www.narf.org/nill/triballaw/index.htm)
NILL Online Tribal Constitutions and Codes:
http://www.narf.org/nill/triballaw/az.htm
NILL – Tribal Codes
(arranged alphabetically w/ links to code)
Absentee Shawnee Tribal Code
http://thorpe.ou.edu/codes/absshaw/
Other Sources of Tribal Law
• Tribal Court Clearinghouse:
http://www.tribal-institute.org/
• National Tribal Justice Resource Center:
http://www.tribalresourcecenter.org/
• National American Indian Court Judges
Association: http://www.naicja.org/
More Sources of Tribal &
Federal Indian Law
• Native American Constitution and
Law Digitization Project:
http://thorpe.ou.edu/
• Lisa Mitten’s List of Links to
Individual Native Nations:
http://www.nativeculturelinks.com/indians.html
American Indian Library Association
http://www.ailanet.org/
More Web Sites of Interest to
Tribal Librarians
• Oklahoma State University’s Electronic Publishing
Center: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/
– Kappler’s Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties
– Indian Claims Commission Decisions
• Harvard Project on American Indian Economic
Development:
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/hpaied/res_main.htm
• Arizona State Univ. Ross-Blakley Law Library
Indian Law Portal: http://www.law.asu.edu/?id=1138
• National Indian Justice Center:
http://www.nijc.org/index.html
Another web site that deals with
Tribal/Indian Law…
• Washington Bar News:
http://www.wsba.org/media/publications/barnews/archives/2002/nov02-default.htm
Some Print Titles Useful to
Tribal Librarians
• United States Tribal Courts Directory, April Schwartz;
Mary Jo B. Hunter. Buffalo, N.Y. : W.S. Hein, 2008. 3rd ed. /
$60.00
•
•
•
•
Conflict Resolution: Mediation, Arbitration & Peacemaking
Santa Rosa, CA: National Indian Justice Center. / $75.00
Introduction to Tribal Legal Studies / Justin B. Richland and Sarah
Deer. Walnut Creek, Cal.: AltaMira Press, 2009. / $49.95 (paper)
$99.00 (hardcover)
Native Americans: Rights, Laws and Legislative Developments
/Charles P. Townsend, editor. New York: Nova Science Publishers,
2008. / $62.10
On the Drafting of Tribal Constitutions / by Felix S. Cohen; edited
by David E. Wilkins ; foreword by Lindsay G. Robertson. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. / $34.95
Some Useful Law Review Articles:
•
Megan Lynn Johnson, Coming Full Circle: the Use of Sentencing Circles as
Federal Statutory Sentencing Reform for Native American Offenders, 29
Thomas Jefferson Law Review 265 (Spring 2007).
•
Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Toward a Theory of Intertribal and Intratribal
Common Law, 43 Houston Law Review 701 (Summer 2006).
• Robert D. Cooter and Wolfgang Fikentscher, Indian Common Law: The
Role of Custom in American Indian Tribal Courts, 46 AM. J COMP.
L. 287 (1998).
• Hon. Robert Yazzie, Life Comes From It: Navajo Justice, in The
Ecology Of Justice (IC#38) Spring 1994, Page 29, Copyright (c)1994,
1997 by Context Institute
More Useful Law Review
Articles:
• Gloria Valencia-Weber, Tribal Courts: Custom
and Innovative Law, 24 New Mexico Law Review
225 (1994).
• 79 JUDICATURE, Nov-Dec. 1995. Issue is entitled
“Indian Tribal Courts and Justice.”
• 23 Oklahoma City University Law Review, 1 & 2,
Spring/Summer 1998.
Issue is entitled, “New Directions in Native American
Law.” with several relevant articles, among them:
David S. Clark, State Court Recognition of Tribal Court
Judgments: Securing the Blessings of Civilization.
Government Sites
For Tribal Governments and Native Americans
http://www.usa.gov/Government/Tribal.shtml
Native American and Tribal Legal Resources
http://www.usa.gov/Government/Tribal/legal.shtml
Bureau of Indian Affairs
http://www.doi.gov/bia/
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs:
http://indian.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Home.Home
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Federal Acknowledgement Decision Compilation
http://64.38.12.138/adc20/adc20.html
National Indian Gaming Commission:
http://www.nigc.gov/
Tribal Gaming Compacts:
http://www.nigc.gov/ReadingRoom/Compacts/tabid/760/Default.aspx
Tribal Codes (and Locations)
Compiled & maintained by Faye Hadley, Native American Resources/Reference Law Librarian
Mabee Legal Information Center, University of Tulsa College of Law
Current as of March 20, 2009.
ABSENTEE SHAWNEE TRIBE OF OKLAHOMA
http://thorpe.ou.edu/codes/absshaw/
BAY MILLS INDIAN COMMUNITY LAWS & CODES
http://www.tribalresourcecenter.org/ccfolder/baymillstoc.htm
BLACKFEET TRIBAL LAW & ORDER CODE
http://doc.narf.org/nill/Codes/blackfeetcode/blftcodetoc.htm
CEDARVILLE RANCHERIA ORDINANCES
http://doc.narf.org/nill/Codes/cedarcode/cedarvlcodetoc.htm
CHEROKEE CODE of the EASTERN BAND OF THE CHEROKEE NATION
http://doc.narf.org/nill/Codes/ebcicode/eccodeintro.htm
CHICKASAW NATION CODE
http://www.chickasaw.net/about_us/index_125.htm
CHITIMACHA COMPREHENSIVE CODES of JUSTICE
http://doc.narf.org/nill/Codes/chitimachacode/chitimcodetoc.htm
CHOCTAW BAND of MISSISSIPPI TRIBAL CODE
http://www.tribalresourcecenter.org/ccfolder/mississippi_choctaw_tribalcodemenu.htm
COLVILLE CONFEDERATED TRIBE’S LAW AND ORDER CODE
http://thorpe.ou.edu/codes/colville/
CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE GRAND RONDE COMMUNITY OF OREGON
http://thorpe.ou.edu/codes/grandronde/
CONFEDERATED SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBAL LAW CODE
http://thorpe.ou.edu/codes/salish/
CONFEDERATED TRIBES of SILETZ INDIANS of OREGON : TRIBAL GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
http://doc.narf.org/nill/Codes/siletzcode/silcodetoc.htm
CROW TRIBAL CODE RULES of APPELLATE PROCEDURE in the CROW COURT of APPEALS
http://www.tribalresourcecenter.org/ccfolder/crow_tribalcode.htm
DUCKWATER SHOSHONE TRIBE LAW & ORDER CODE
http://www.tribalresourcecenter.org/ccfolder/duckwater_shoshone_tribalcodemenu.htm
FORT MCDERMITT PAIUTE-SHOSHONE TRIBE of OREGON & NEVADA – LAW & ORDER CODE
http://doc.narf.org/nill/Codes/ftmdecode/ftmcdtoc.htm
FORT MCDOWELL YAVAPAI COMMUNITY, ARIZONA – LAW & ORDER CODE
http://www.tribalresourcecenter.org/ccfolder/yavapai_ftmcdowell_lawandordermenu.htm
Tribal Constitutions and By-Laws
Compiled and maintained by Faye Hadley
Native American Resources/Reference Law Librarian Mabee Legal Information Center
University of Tulsa College of Law
Last updated: April 6, 2009
CONSTITUTION & BY-LAWS of the CONFEDERATED TRIBES of the UMATILLA RESERVATION in OREGON
http://thorpe.ou.edu/constitution/umatilla.html
CONSTITUTION of the UNITED TRIBE of SHAWNEE INDIANS
http://www.shawnee-bluejacket.com/Shawnee_Constitution.htm
CONSTITUTION & BY-LAWS of the UTE INDIAN TRIBE of the UINTAH & OURAY RESERVATION
http://doc.narf.org/nill/Constitutions/uteconst/uteconsttoc.htm
CONSTITUTION of the WAMPANOAG TRIBE of GAY HEAD
(AQUINNAH), (AS ADOPTED ON NOVEMBER 18, 1990),
(AS AMENDED ON MAY 15, 1994), (AS AMENDED ON MAY 21, 1995)
http://thorpe.ou.edu/constitution/wampanoag/index.html
CONSTITUTION of the WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHE TRIBE of the FORT APACHE INDIAN RESERVATION
ARIZONA
http://thorpe.ou.edu/codes/wmtnapache/Constitution.html
AMENDED CONSTITUTION of the YANKTON SIOUX TRIBAL BUSINESS & CLAIMS COMMITTEE
http://doc.narf.org/nill/Constitutions/yanktonconst/yanconsttoc.htm
CONSTITUTION of the YAVAPAI-APACHE NATION
http://thorpe.ou.edu/constitution/Yavapai/toc.html
INDIAN REORGANIZATION ACT ERA CONSTITUTIONS & CHARTERS
http://thorpe.ou.edu/IRA.html
Finally…One More Web Site…
• Native American Law Web Sites:
http://www.law.utulsa.edu/library/research/pathfinders/natam
A web site maintained by the presenter of this program that has
information arranged in various categories: Tribal Courts,
International Indigenous Issues, News from Indian Country,
among them.
• Any comments, questions, or suggestions
concerning this presentation should be
directed to Faye Hadley, Native American
Resources /Reference Law Librarian at the
University of Tulsa College of Law.
• Phone: 918-631-2457
• E-mail: m-hadley@utulsa.edu