Legal History Commons^™

Indian Allotment Water Rights, Richard B. Collins

Publications

Allotted tribal lands create troublesome questions for western water lawyers. In this article the author reviews the history of basic Indian reservation water rights created by the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Winters v. United States. He then explains the disposition of those rights when reservation lands are allotted. Finally, he discusses the difficult issues that arise when allotted lands pass from the federal trust become subject to state law, and are transferred to non-Indians.