Site Search | Site Index

Indian Law Research

Updated Aug. 21, 2008
Prepared by Mary Whisner, with contributions by Kelly Aldrich. Updated by Carissa Vogel, law librarianship intern (2007).

This guide lists sources for Indian law research. It is limited to Indian law in the United States. All call numbers are for the Gallagher Law Library unless otherwise noted.

A PowerPoint presentation on Indian law research is here.

Finding Aids

Research Guides & Bibliographies

Guides (good introductions)

Penny A. Hazelton, Indian Law Research in Washington, in Washington Legal Researcher's Deskbook 3d at 211 (2002). KFW75.W37 2002 at Reference Area & Reference Office

Another good introduction to Indian law research is the two-part guide from the National Indian Law Library (updated Sept. 2007).

Bibliographies

These titles list sources and generally provide less of an overview of the field than the two guides listed above.

Marilyn K. Nicely, Annotated Bibliography of Federal and Tribal Law: Print and Internet Sources (April 2003).

Nancy Carol Carter, American Indian Law: Research and Sources, Legal Reference Services Q., Winter 1984/85, at 7.

Nancy Carol Carter, American Indian Tribal Governments, Law, and Courts, Legal Reference Services Q., 2000 no. 2, at 7.

Indian Land Titles (last modified March 21, 2006).

Rory SnowArrow Fausett & Judith V. Royster, Courts and Indians: Sixty-Five Years of Legal Analysis: Bibliography of Periodical Articles Relating to Native American Law, 1922-1996, Legal Reference Servs. Q., Summ.-Wint. 1987, at 107.

Delores A. Jorgensen & Barbara B. Heisinger, A Bibliography of Indian Law Periodical Articles Published 1980-1990. KF8201.A1J67 1992 at Reference Office

Library Catalogs

Gallagher Law Library

UW Libraries catalog. History, anthropology, and other fields can be useful for Indian law researchers.

National Indian Law Library / Native American Rights Fund
Catalog: "The collection consists of Native American legal materials ranging from books and journal articles to tribal self-governance documents such as tribal codes and constitutions. Many of the records in the catalog contain abstracts and table of contents that provide detailed information about the document. The NILL catalog is updated on a regular basis."

Tip: This catalog can help you find materials not listed in ordinary library catalogs, such as individual cases and pleadings. Sometimes you will then be able to locate the material here.

Directories

General: Native Americans Information Directory. E76.2N37 1998 at Reference Office

Tribes & Reservations

American Indian Tribal/Nation Home Pages, University of Oklahoma Law Center. 

U.S. Dep't of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, American Indian Reservations and Trust Areas. E98.A54 1996 at Reference Office

American Indian, Alaska Native Directory for Western Washington & the Puget Sound. E76.2.W3 A5 1997-98 at Reference Office

Governor's Office of Indian Affairs, Washington State Tribal Directory.

Washington State Yearbook, annual. K9230.W38 at Reference Area & Reference Office
Includes a list of Washington Indian tribes (with a map of reservations).

American Indian Heritage Foundation directory of federally recognized tribes.

Tribal Courts

United States Tribal Courts Directory, 2d ed. KF8224.C6S39 2006 at Reference Office

Washington State Courts, Washington Tribal Courts

Indian Court Judges Directories. KF8224.C6D5 1991 at Reference Office

Websites

Aboriginal Connections is a searchable annotated web directory related to indigenous peoples worldwide. Links to sites concerning U.S. Indian Law are here.

University of Washington School of Law Native American Law Center; selected links.

Washington Governor's Office of Indian Affairs links to state, tribal, and federal resources.

University of Washington Libraries digital collection, American Indians of the Pacific Northwest. "The digital databases includes over 2,300 original photographs as well as over 1,500 pages from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior from 1851 to 1908 and six Indian treaties negotiated in 1855. Secondary sources include 89 articles from the Pacific Northwest Quarterly and 23 University of Washington publications in Anthropology."

top

Secondary Sources

Basic Information 

Washington LawHelp has information for the public under the Native American Law heading. Topics include discrimination and economic development, government benefits,  the Indian Child Welfare Act, treaty rights, tribal acknowledgement, tribal law, and tribal land issues.

Jack Utter, American Indians: Answers to Today's Questions (2d ed. 2001). E93.U88 2001 at Reference Office

William C. Canby, American Indian Law in a Nutshell (4th ed. 2004). KF8205.Z9C36 2004 at Reference Area

Lindsay G. Robertson, Native Americans and the Law: Native Americans Under Current United States Law (2001).

Treatise

Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law (2005 ed.). KF8205.C6 2005 at Reference Area, available on LexisNexis.

Previous editions

Looseleaf Reporter

Indian Law Reporter. KF8201.A315 at Reference Area (A second set covering 1974-91 is at Classified Stacks.)
Includes cases on Indian law from federal, state, and tribal courts. Covers 1974-date.

Continuing Legal Education Materials

The University of Washington School of Law hosts the annual Western Regional Indian Law Symposium. The printed CLE materials are found at KF8224.C6W47 at Classified Stacks & Reference Area Microfiche. Indexes to the materials cover statutes, cases, tribes, and subjects discussed.

Ralph W. Johnson Bibliography

University of Washington Law School professor Ralph Johnson was a noted Indian law scholar and advocate. He founded the UW's Native American Law Center. A bibliography of his publications is here. A profile by David W. Getches is at 72 Wash. L. Rev. 995 (1997), available on Hein Online (UW Restricted).

State Tax Issues

For a national overview, see Piecing Together the State-Tribal Tax Puzzle (2005), from the National Conference of State Legislatures. For Washington State, see the Washington State Dep't of Revenue's Indian Guide to Washington State Excise Taxes (2004). PDF & HTML

top

Primary Sources

Treaties

Most treaties between the United States and Indian tribes were compiled in volume 7 of United States Statutes at Large; some treaties are in volumes 1-16.Photo of is treaty signing by William T. Sherman and the Sioux at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, photographed by Alexander Gardner, 1868. From National Archives American Indian Select List number 30.)

The photograph is of a is treaty signing by William T. Sherman and the Sioux at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, photographed by Alexander Gardner, 1868. From National Archives American Indian Select List number 30.)

Treaties are compiled in Charles J. Kappler, ed., Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. This set is commonly referred to as "Kappler." KF8203 1903 at Reference Area

Online editions, which can be searched and browsed, include:

Westlaw's FNAM-EXEC file includes ratified and unratified treaties.

Who was Kappler? See 61 Law Libr. J. 314-316, available on Hein Online (UW Restricted).

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has digitized a collection of Early Recognized Treaties with American Indian Nations, which supplements the treaties found in Kappler.

Other finding aids include:

Treaties with Indian tribes in Washington State include:

Treaty of Point Elliott, 12 Stat. 927 (1855), 2 Kappler 669. Also called "Treaty with the Dwamish &c. Indians" or "Treaty with the Dwamish, Suquamish, etc." It was signed by (or signed with the "mark" of) representatives of fifteen tribes or bands, including the Lummi and the Skagit tribes. (The first page of the Point Elliott treaty is pictured here. Image from Washington Secretary of State.)

Treaty of Medicine Creek, 10 Stat. 1132 (1854), 2 Kappler 661. Also called "Treaty with the Nisquallys, &c."

Treaty of Point No Point, 12 Stat. 933 (1855), 2 Kappler 674. Also called "Treaty with S'Klallam."

Treaty of Neah Bay, 12 Stat. 939 (1855), 2 Kappler 682. This is the treaty with the Makah Tribe. Sometimes known as the Stevens Treaty, because it was signed by Gov. Isaac Stevens.

Treaty with the Yakama Nation, 12 Stat. 951 (1855), 2 Kappler 698.

Treaty of Olympia, 12 Stat. 971 (1855), 2 Kappler 719. "Treaty between the United States and the Qui-nai-elt and Quil-leh-ute Indians."

Treaty with the Walla Walla, 12 Stat. 945 (1855), 2 Kappler 694.

Treaty Proceedings - Transcripts and Documents

U.S. National Archives, Documents Relating to the Negotiation of Ratified and Unratified Treaties with Various Tribes of Indians 1801-69. Available at the UW's Suzzallo Library's Microform Collection (Microfilm A8207). Included in this collection are handwritten transcripts of the treaty negotiations/proceedings.

Consists of 10 microfilm reels, containing the following:

  1. Introduction and ratified treaties, 1801-26
  2. Ratified treaties, 1827-32
  3. Ratified treaties, 1833-37
  4. Ratified treaties, 1838-53
  5. Ratified treaties, 1854-55
  6. Ratified treaties, 1856-63
  7. Ratified treaties, 1864-68
  8. Unratified treaties, 1821-65
  9. Unratified treaties, 1866-67
  10. Unratified treaties, 1868-69

Hint: The best way to find the underlying treaty proceeding documents for a particular tribe's treaty is to focus on the date it was signed and whether it was ratified. For instance, Treaty of Neah Bay (the Makah Treaty) was signed on January 31, 1855, and it was ratified, so the underyling treaty proceedings can be found on Reel 5.

Western Washington Treaty Proceedings. KFW505.6.T7L38 1977 at Classified Stacks
Includes a copy (typewritten) of the official transcript - covering the period from December 7, 1854, through January 26, 1855 - of the Stevens Treaty Commission in Western Washington.

The transcript of the proceedings for the Treaty of Point No Point was excerpted in Pacific Northwest Quarterly (The Indian Treaty of Point No Point, Pac. Nw. Q., April 1955, at 54).

Western Washington University's Center for Pacific Northwest Studies includes in its Northwest Ethnohistory Collection a number of materials relating to Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest, treaty papers among them.

top

Tribal Codes

Separately published codes available at the Gallagher Law Library or on the Internet include:

For other tribes, search the Law Library catalog for keywords:  trib* and code. Note that some tribal codes do not use the word "tribe" or "tribal" in their titles, so you should also search by the tribe's name, e.g., Cherokee Nation, Mille Lacs Band.

Collections of tribal codes on the Internet are available at:

Additional tribal codes are available in two older microfiche compilations published by the Gallagher Law Library:

Ralph W. Johnson, ed., Indian Tribal Codes: A Microfiche Collection of Indian Tribal Law Codes (1988). KF8220.I57J6 1988 at Reference Area. Includes codes from 61 tribes.

Ralph W. Johnson, ed., Indian Tribal Codes: A Microfiche Collection of Indian Tribal Law Codes (1981). KF8220.I57J6 at Reference Area. Includes codes from 59 tribes.

The originals of the codes in the microfiche sets are at the National Indian Law Library.

The following Montana tribal codes on LexisNexis: Blackfeet, Chippewa-Cree, Crow, Ft. Belknap, Ft. Peck, Northern Cheyenne, Salish & Kootenai. Path: Area of Law - By Topic > Native American Law > Find Statutes & Legislative Materials > By State > Montana Tribal Codes, Constitutions and Court Rules.

top

Tribal Constitutions

Tribal constitutions are often included in tribal codes. For separately published constitutions, search the Law Library catalog.

For constitutions on the web, see:

Tribal Court Decisions

There is no comprehensive source for tribal court decisions. The best source for decisions from around the country is the Indian Law Reporter.

Montana Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Court Decisions  available on LexisNexis (1989-2003): Area of Law - By Topic > Native American Law > Find Cases & Court Rules > MT Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Court Decisions from 1989

Montana Crow available on LexisNexis (1989-2003): Area of Law - By Topic > Native American Law > Find Cases & Court Rules > MT Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Court Decisions from 1989

Montana Fort Peck Tribal Court Decisions available on LexisNexis (1984-2004): Area of Law - By Topic > Native American Law > Find Cases & Court Rules > MT Fort Peck Tribal Court Decisions from 1984

Navajo Nation

North Carolina Cherokee Courts available on LexisNexis (2000- ) (from 3 Cher. Rep.): Area of Law - By Topic > Native American Law > Find Cases & Court Rules > NC Cherokee Courts from 2000.

Oklahoma Tribal Court Reports (1979-) are available on Westlaw (OKTRIB-CS).

Tribal Appellate Court Opinions: Northwest Regional Appellate Courts (Northwest Intertribal Court System). KF8220 .A515 at Reference Area. (Publication is slow. As of Aug. 2008, the most recent volume in the Library was for 2000-2004.)

top

Federal Laws

For session laws, see the collection in Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties.

Most laws relating to Indians are codified in Title 25 of the United States Code.

Selected laws relating to Native Americans are listed by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness.

The National Indian Law Library's links for Federal Legislation and Legislative History are useful. Thomas is especially good for legislation currently under consideration. 

Executive Orders and Proclamations

top

Federal Agencies

Regulations

Most regulations relating to Indians are codified in Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

The National Indian Law Library issues an Indian Law Bulletin - U.S. Regulatory Information, with news about recently issued notices and proposed regulations.

Solicitor General Opinions

Opinions of the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior Relating to Indian Affairs, 1917-1974, KF8204 1979 at Reference Area.

Opinions from 1993 to date are on the Internet at [Couldn't find 12/6/07]

Interior Board of Indian Appeals

Decisions of the United States Department of the Interior. KF5603.3.A2 at Reference Area

Sarch the LLMC Digital collection of executive department materials, including Interior decisions.

Bureau of Indian Affairs

The BIA website was very limited for several years because of a pending lawsuit, Cobell v. Norton, a case challenging BIA's management of Indian trust funds. In May 2008 a court order enabled BIA to restore content to the site.

The Internet Archive has earlier versions of the BIA website, including versions before the content was removed, here.

U.S. Indian Claims Commission

Decisions (1948-78)

Indexes to Decisions

Expert Testimony

Legislative History

Robert W. Barker & Alice Ehrenfeld, comps., Legislative History of the Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946. KF8208.A31A162 at Reference Area Microfiche

Archives

The Indian Claims Commission's original records are held by the National Archives and Records Administration.

Other Federal Agencies

The current BIA website links to a variety of federal agency sites concerning Indian issues.

The Internal Revenue Service has Tax Information for Tribal Governments.

FirstGov's For Tribal Governments and Native Americans page links to federal websites for information on education, jobs, and economic development; family and health; housing; land and the environment; legislative and legal resources; and other resources.

Federal and State Cases

Many federal and state cases are published in the Indian Law Reporter.

Westlaw collects federal Indian law cases into special databases: FNAM-SCT (Supreme Court), FNAM-CTA (Courts of Appeals), FNAM-DCT (district courts), and all of those together (FNAM-CS). For state cases, use state databases (e.g., WA-CS) and the Indians topic (TO(209)).

News Sources

American Indian Quarterly (Westlaw AIQ, 3/2000-)

Cherokee Phoenix and Indian Advocate (Westlaw CHERPINDA, 3/2000-)

Indian Country Today (Oneida, NY) (Westlaw INDCTRYTYNY, 12/2001-)

Indian Country Today (Rapid City, SD) (Westlaw INDCTRYTYSD, 5/1997-12/2001)

Navajo Times (Westlaw NAVAJOTMS, 1/2000-)

top

    ©2007, M.G. Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington