Law Commons^™

Law, Labour And Landscape In A Just Transition, Adrian A. Smith, Dayna Nadine Scott

Articles & Book Chapters

Taking conflicts over new solar energy projects on the agricultural landscape in the global North as its backdrop, the chapter demonstrates how work and labour (including that performed in the North by workers from the global South) are erased both by the opponents and the proponents of such projects. The erasure is consistent with prevailing ways of knowing the human-environment nexus, shaped by an underlying political economy derivative of how international law has constructed and maintained the foundational liberal mythology that separates labour from land. Grounded in our commitment to pursuing a ‘just transition’ to decarbonisation – that is to …

Johnson V. M'Intosh: Christianity, Genocide, And The Dispossession Of Indigenous Peoples, Cynthia J. Boshell

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Using hermeneutical methodology, this paper examines some of the legal fictions that form the foundation of Federal Indian Law. The text of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1823 Johnson v. M’Intosh opinion is evaluated through the lens of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to determine the extent to which the Supreme Court incorporated genocidal principles into United States common law. The genealogy of M’Intosh is examined to identify influences that are not fully apparent on the face of the case. International jurisprudential interpretations of the legal definition of genocide are summarized and used as …

Law School News: Mike Andrews '97 Nominated To U.S. Court Of Federal Claims 12-15-2020, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Under Coyote’S Mask: Environmental Law, Indigenous Identity, And #Nodapl, Danielle Delaney

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article studies the relationship between the three main lawsuits filed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and the Yankton Sioux Tribe against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DaPL) and the mass protests launched from the Sacred Stone and Oceti Sakowin protest camps. The use of environmental law as the primary legal mechanism to challenge the construction of the pipeline distorted the indigenous demand for justice as U.S. federal law is incapable of seeing the full depth of the indigenous worldview supporting their challenge. Indigenous activists constantly re-centered the direct actions and protests within indigenous culture …

Parchment As Power: The Effects Of Pre-Revolutionary Treaties On Native Americans From The Colonial Period To Present, Katie Wilkinson

The Purdue Historian

In colonial America, there was one resource that settlers were thirsty for and only Native Americans could provide: land. Europeans were interested in gaining possession of Native land via whatever methods would place the fertile soil into their greedy palms the fastest. As a result, they turned to a familiar practice to establish ownership – the written word, more specifically treaties. Unfortunately, the Europeans had fundamentally different thoughts concerning land than the Natives and it resulted in great forfeitures for tribes. While Native Americans were often tricked into land cessions, this was not always the case. Some of the reasons …

Complexity's Shadow: American Indian Property, Sovereignty, And The Future, Jessica A. Shoemaker

Michigan Law Review

This Article offers a new perspective on the challenges of the modern American Indian land tenure system. While some property theorists have renewed focus on isolated aspects of Indian land tenure, including the historic inequities of colonial takings of Indian lands, this Article argues that the complexity of today’s federally imposed reservation property system does much of the same colonizing work that historic Indian land policies—from allotment to removal to termination—did overtly. But now, these inequities are largely overshadowed by the daunting complexity of the whole land tenure structure. This Article introduces a new taxonomy of complexity in American Indian …

An Unfinished Joruney: Arctic Indigenous Rights, Lands, And Jurisdiction?, Tony Penikett

Seattle University Law Review

The indigenous rights movement has been defined as a struggle for land and jurisdiction. Over the last forty years, American and Canadian governments made much progress on the land question in the Arctic and sub-Arctic; however, from an irrational fear of the unknown, politicians in Washington, D.C. and Ottawa have effectively blocked the pathways to aboriginal jurisdiction or self-government. During the late-twentieth century in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, as well as in Nisga’a territory, indigenous governments negotiated local government powers, but continent-wide progress on the question of indigenous jurisdiction has stalled. This Article considers the formation and implementation …

Agenda: A Life Of Contributions For All Time: Symposium In Honor Of David H. Getches, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law, University Of Colorado Law Review

A Life of Contributions for All Time: Symposium in Honor of David H. Getches (April 26-27)

On April 26-27, 2012, Colorado Law honored David H. Getches with a symposium to celebrate his life and legacy of trailblazing scholarship. “A Life of Contributions for All Time” featured a keynote address by Distinguished Professor Charles Wilkinson entitled, “Hero for the People, Hero for the Land and Water: Reflections on the Enduring Contributions of David Getches.” Top scholars in the fields of natural resources, water, and American Indian law reflected on Dean Getches’ contributions and their own insights into these fields, including Professor John Leshy, John Echohawk, Professor Carole Goldberg, Professor Joe Sax, Professor Rebecca Tsosie, Justice Greg Hobbs, …

Territory, Wilderness, Property, And Reservation: Land And Religion In Native American Supreme Court Cases, Kathleen Sands

American Indian Law Review

In two trilogies of Supreme Court Decisions, both involving Native Americans, land is a key metaphor, figuring variously as property, territory, wilderness, and reservation. The first trilogy, written by Chief Justice John Marshall, comprises Johnson v. M'Intosh (1823), Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), and Worcester v. Georgia (1832). The second trilogy concerns Native American claims for religious freedom under the First Amendment and includes Bowen v. Roy (1986), Lyng v. Northwest Cemetery Protective Association (1988), and Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith (1990). The Marshal cases attempted to legitimate the transformation of land from wilderness to territory and property, and …

An Analysis Of Article 28 Of The United Nations Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples, And Proposals For Reform, David Fautsch

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this Note is two-fold: first, to demonstrate why the standards set out in Article 28 require further clarification, and second, to propose reforms (both inside and outside of the United Nations framework) that might benefit indigenous peoples claiming land rights.

Navajo Nation Water Settlement & Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Acts Of 2009 (Includes Funding Mechanism For 3 Tribal Water Settlements In Nm), United States 111th Congress

Native American Water Rights Settlement Project

Federal Legislation: Omnibus Public Land Management, Title X - Water Settlements, Subtitle B - Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, PL 111-11, 123 Stat. 991. ◊ Parties: Navajo Nation and US. Part II, Section 10501 sets up the Reclamation Water Settlements Fund. For each of the fiscal years 2020 through 2029, the US will deposit 120M dollars into the Fund, if it is available, plus any interest which comes from Reclamation’s appropriation. The funds are to be spent on Indian water rights settlements that involve water supply infrastructure, to rehabilitate water delivery systems for conservation, or …

Soboba Band Of Luiseño Indians Water Rights Settlement Act Of 2008, United States 110th Congress

Native American Water Rights Settlement Project

Federal Legislation: Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians Settlement Act, PL 110-297, 122 Stat. 2975 (July 31, 2008). The Act ratifies the Settlement Agreement dated June 7, 2006, between the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, US, Eastern Municipal Water District, Lake Hemet Municipal Water District and Metropolitan Water District of Southern CA. The Tribe will receive an adequate and secure future water supply (9,000 acre-feet per year); $18 million from Eastern and Lake Hemet water districts for economic development; $11 million from the federal government for water development; and 128 acres of land near Diamond Valley Lake for commercial development. The …

Slides: The Urbanizing West: Limits To Water, Limits To Growth, Lora A. Lucero

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Lora A. Lucero, AICP, American Planning Association

18 slides

Slides: Paying The Price For Power: When L.A. Turns On The Lights, Northwestern New Mexico Feels It, Jonathan Thompson

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Jonathan Thompson, Editor, High Country News

23 slides

"Peoples Distinct From Others": The Making Of Modern Indian Law, Charles Wilkinson

Publications

No abstract provided.

Amendment No. 1 To The Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Agreement In The Little Colorado River Basin, Zuni Indian Tribe Et Al

Native American Water Rights Settlement Project

Settlement Agreement: Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement in the Little CO River Basin Amendments 1 (July 8. 2004) Parties: Zuni Indian Tribe, US, AZ, AZ Game & Fish Commission, AZ State Land Department, AZ State Parks Board, St. Johns Irrigation & Ditch Co., Lyman Water Co., Round Valley Water Users’ Ass’n, Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement & Power District, Tucson Electric Power Co., City of St. Johns, Town of Eagar, and Town of Springerville. These Amendments are taken to conform the Settlement Agreement of 2002 to the Settlement Act of 2004. The amendments relate to changes to dates and …

Special Master's Term Sheet For Nez Perce Tribe Water Rights, Nez Perce Tribe, Usa, Idaho

Native American Water Rights Settlement Project

Settlement Agreement aka Special Master's Term Sheet, found as 1) an attachment to the Joint Status Report on Settlement Efforts and Motion for Stay, and 2) as Attachment 2 to the Consent Order entered on 1-30-2007. Parties: Nez Perce Tribe, ID, Idaho, US, United States. Agreement includes

Nez Perce Tribal Component: on-reservation consumptive use reserved water rights at 50,000 acre-feet/year with priority date of 1855. Allowed uses include irrigation, DCMI, hatchery and cultural uses. Tribe will administer on reservation rights pursuant to a tribal water code. Renting of water within the state is allowed. US will establish a $50 million, …

Individual Aboriginal Rights, John W. Ragsdale Jr.

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article will, in Section I, deal with the legal development of the concept of individual aboriginal rights. It will focus on the Western Shoshone land claims before the Indian Claims Commission, and the federal government's trespass claims against the ranching operations of the redoubtable, irrepressible Dann sisters. Section II will explore the development and utilization of the doctrine of individual aboriginal rights in a series of cases involving the Dann sisters, subsequent Western Shoshone, and other efforts by native people to secure subsistence hunting and fishing rights and possession of or access to sacred sites. Section III will explore …

Filling In The Blank Spots On Powell's And Stegner's Maps: The Role Of Modern Indian Tribes In Western Watersheds, Charles Wilkinson

Publications

No abstract provided.

Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement In The Little Co River Basin, Zuni Indian Tribe Et Al

Native American Water Rights Settlement Project

Settlement Agreement: Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement in the Little CO River Basin (June 7. 2002) Parties: Zuni Indian Tribe, US, AZ, AZ Game & Fish Commission, AZ State Land Department, AZ State Parks Board, St. Johns Irrigation & Ditch Co., Lyman Water Co., Round Valley Water Users’ Ass’n, Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement & Power District, Tucson Electric Power Co., City of St. Johns, Town of Eagar, and Town of Springerville.

The Agreement resolves the Zuni Indian Tribe water rights in the Little CO River basin, AZ. The Zuni Tribe intends to reestablish and maintain the wetland environment …

Self-Government And The Inalienability Of Aboriginal Title, Kent Mcneil

Articles & Book Chapters

Aboriginal title to land, as defined by the courts, has a number of sui generis aspects. Prominent among these is its inalienability, other than by surrender to the Crown. Two explanations are usually given for this: the need to protect Aboriginal peoples from exploitation by unscrupulous European settlers, and the incapacity of the settlers to obtain title to land otherwise than by Crown grant. While acknowledging that the need for protection of Aboriginal lands was important historically, this article argues that it is paternalistic to rely on this explanation for inalienability today. The incapacity of settlers is a more satisfactory …

Fort Belknap-Mt Compact Of 2001, Montana

Native American Water Rights Settlement Project

Settlement & State Legislation: No separate settlement agreement. Fort Belknap-Montana compact ratified. (MCA 85-20-1001) (April 16, 2001) Parties: Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Reservation, MT and US. The Tribes have right to 645 c/f/s from the Milk River and its tributaries upstream from Reservation diversion point with a priority date of October 17, 1855. Off-stream storage is limited to 60,000 a/f and up to 125 c/f/s is for irrigation and other historical purposes. Tribes have right to develop surface water in the Milk River Basin for livestock impoundments provided they don't use more than 30 a/f/y. …

Aboriginal Rights In Transition: Reassessing Aboriginal Title And Governance, Kent Mcneil

Articles & Book Chapters

In a series of important decisions, the Court has come to grips with a number of issues that it did its best to avoid in the past, involving the identification and definition of Aboriginal rights, the content of Aboriginal title to land and the requirements for proving it, and the relevance of the law of New France to Aboriginal rights today. This paper will focus on these recent developments in the law, as well as attempting to identify areas where the law of Aboriginal rights is incomplete and so requires further judicial elucidation.

Was Amerindian Dispossession Lawful? The Response Of 19th-Century Maritime Intellectuals, D G. Bell

Dalhousie Law Journal

In the half-century ending about the time of Confederation a dozen writers addressed awkward questions about an earlier generation's dispossession of Maritime Amerindians from land and resources: had it been lawful; if so, how; if not, what should be done? In the main they approached it as an abstract question, divorced from those particulars of local history that would become the focus of late-20th-century investigation. Those who theorized that English tradition made dispossession lawful did so with reference to the doctrine of "discovery" or to the proposition, grounded in Locke and accepted widely in colonial public opinion, thatAmerindian possession of …

Monopolistic Land Tenure And Free Trade In Mexico: Resurrecting The Ghost Of Porfirian Economics, Lola Clayton Rainey

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chicana/Chicano Land Tenure In The Agrarian Domain: On The Edge Of A "Naked Knife", Guadalupe T. Lunda

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Neither sovereignty nor property rights could forestall American geopolitical expansion in the first half of the nineteenth century. The conflicts that resulted from this clash of doctrine with desire are perhaps most evident in the history of the Chicanas/Chicanos of Texas, California, and the Southwest, who sought to maintain their land and property, as guaranteed by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in the aftermath of the U.S.- Mexico War. Integrating an exploration of case law with political and social histories of the period, the Author explores the sociolegal significance of Chicana/Chicano land dispossession; exposes the racial, economic, and political motivations …

Henry Berry Lowry: Champion Of The Dispossessed, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The nineteenth century stands apart in the minds of indigenous peoples as a period of extreme hardship. Tribes in the first half of this era, were initially victimized by the enactment of devastating "segregation" measures (i.e. the Indian Removal policy and later the Reservation policy). Later in the century, when it was clear that segregation was an insufficient response to intercultural relations, the federal government shifted its powerful attention to a series of overtly ethnocidal "civilization," or better termed, "Americanization" measures. Broadly stated, such measures entailed the cultural assimilation, the spiritual assimilation, and the physical assimilation of indigenous lands and …

Mikmaw Tenure In Atlantic Canada, James [Sákéj] Youngblood Henderson

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Supreme Court of Canada has characterized aboriginal title to land as a sui generis legal interest. This essay describes the sui generis interest of Mikmaw tenure in Atlantic Canada from a Mikmaq linguistic perspective. The author argues the prerogative treaties and legislation of the eighteenth century suggest it is a reserved and protected tenure, which in Eurocentric law might be reconceptualized as allodial tenure.

Yavapai-Prescott Indian Water Rights Settlement Act Of 1994, United States 103rd Congress

Native American Water Rights Settlement Project

Federal Legislation: Title 1, Sec. 101(b)(5) of An Act to Provide for the Settlement of the Water Rights Claims of the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe in Yavapai County, AZ, and for Other Purposes, PL103-434 (OCT. 31, 1994) Title 1, Sec. 101(b)(5) repeals section 406(k) of Public Law 101-628 which authorizes $30,000,000 in appropriations for the acquisition of land and water resources in the Verde River basin and for the development thereof as an alternative source of water for the Fort McDowell Indian Community. [Source: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-108/pdf/STATUTE-108-Pg4526.pdf]

Resolving Native American Land Claims And The Eleventh Amendment: Changing The Balance Of Power, Katharine F. Nelson

Katharine F. Nelson

No abstract provided.