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Choosing Tribal Law: Why State Choice-Of-Law Principles Should Apply To Disputes With Tribal Contacts, Katherine J. Florey

ExpressO

This article considers a problem in Indian law that has been much commented upon but little explored: When a state court exercises jurisdiction over a case with tribal contacts, what law should govern? While the Supreme Court has developed a detailed set of rules dictating whether cases with tribal contacts should be heard in a state or tribal forum, it has devoted almost no attention to the question of which law should apply once a forum has been chosen. Thus, many state courts have simply assumed, without explicit consideration of the issue, that state law should apply to any case …