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Full-Text Articles in Law
Navajo Statehood: From Domestic Dependent Nation To 51st State, Ezra Rosser
Navajo Statehood: From Domestic Dependent Nation To 51st State, Ezra Rosser
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
The Supreme Court’s recent holding in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta that “Indian country is part of the State, not separate from the State” is a reminder of tribal sovereignty’s precarious foundation under U.S. law. The Court’s holding not only broke with longstanding precedent regarding the relationship between tribes and states, but it is also incompatible with the lived experience of those living in the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation, not the states and not the federal government, has primary responsibility for governing an area roughly the size of West Virginia. Yet most maps of the United States demarcate only state boundaries, …
Customary Law: The Way Things Were, Codified, Ezra Rosser
Customary Law: The Way Things Were, Codified, Ezra Rosser
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
Frequently referred to as customary law, the unique traditions and customs of different Native American tribes are cited by their tribal courts as authoritative and binding law. The recent use of customary law as a mechanism for deciding individual cases is not uniform among tribal court systems as it differs depending upon which tribe's judges are working to place custom into contemporary judicial analysis. Understanding the present role of customary law in tribal law requires first understanding the nature of customary law and then understanding how it is being used. The effect of customary law is dependent upon the place …
This Land Is My Land, This Land Is Your Land: Markets And Institutions For Economic Development On Native American Reservations, Ezra Rosser
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
This paper presents the current land regime and nature of economic development found on most Native American reservations, drawing predominantly from the Navajo Nation. It then considers the situation according to (1) neo-classical economics and (2) New Institutional Economics (NIE). The paper begins with the paired assumptions that economic growth can and should reach reservations and that the U.S. and tribal governments can improve upon past performance and institutional arrangements. Policy solutions to reservation commercial and light industrial underdevelopment, corresponding to each economic perspective in turn, are then discussed. The paper broadens the range of policy options available to tribes …
The Trade-Off Between Self-Determination And The Trust Doctrine: Tribal Government And The Possibility Of Failure, Ezra Rosser
The Trade-Off Between Self-Determination And The Trust Doctrine: Tribal Government And The Possibility Of Failure, Ezra Rosser
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
This paper argues that tribes and scholars need to come to grips with the trade-off between trust and self-determination, and that failure to do so-by for example expressing a yearning that the trust doctrine was stronger-will lead to poor choices by tribes. Choices thus need to be based on an understanding of this trade-off and tribes must be aware that exercising self-determination inevitably will lead to a weakening of the trust doctrine over the areas which tribe's assume authority. This point is illustrated using a close analysis of the arguments used by the parties and the Supreme Court's treatment of …