by Melanie Home Gun

The United States and the Indian tribes operate under the federal laws created by the 380 Indian treaties. Federal laws have a greater impact on Indian people than do state laws because of the Indian nation sovereignty under federal rule. Indian federal laws regulate the legal relationship between the Indian tribes and the United States (Getches, Wilkinson, & Williams, 1998).

The three main focal points of federal Indian law are concerned with Indian property rights and tribal sovereignty, state jurisdiction, and federal obligations and power. For these reasons, special legislations exist for each tribe depending on geographic locations and specific treaty provisions. Many rights, principals, and obligations differ from each tribe in federal-tribal legal relations (Getches et al, 1998).

Once the Constitution of the United States was adopted, the government had a long history of making negotiations with tribes through treaties, which brought upon Indian sovereignty. The tribal negotiations allowed the government to colonize the land. The colonization made Indian containment through reservations a priority (Getches et al, 1998).

State jurisdiction is not exercised on the Indian reservations through necessity. Federal law cannot rule when state jurisdiction is implied. Under the Tenth Amendment, tribal governments under federal Indian law maintain their own police authorities and are not subject to laws such as child welfare, domestic relations, zoning, or environmental degradation. State or counties (Getches et al, 1998) cannot tax Indian lands.

Through the First Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790, the government is an active participant in all land transactions on tribal lands. The government made their participation necessary to ensure Indian lands stay within Indian entities and to monopolize land transactions within the federal government. Therefore, the United States government has the authority to regulate commerce with the Indians (1 Stat. 137) (Getches et al, 1998).

Indians use tribal corporations to collaborate with non-Indian corporations, in tribal real estate, oil, gas, and mineral industries. Understanding federal Indian law as a non-Indian corporation is crucial, because the same laws do not apply to the reservations and Indians as they would to other citizens or states. The Indian tribes are sovereign entities and understanding the depth of the laws of sovereignty is necessary in Indian negotiations (Getches et al, 1998).

The United States government can alter Indian rights through Congress at will. When water or land issues appear, and affect neighboring communities that are non- Indian, Congress can and does change Indian rights adopted from treaties. In New York, Indian land claims have affected land ownership of non- Indians. In Wyoming, Indian water rights have affected non- Indian farmers irrigation projects. Indian rights are changed in order to keep a balance between non- Indians and Indian rights (Getches et al, 1998).

Many argue if changing rights at will is fair. Politicians continuously strive to nullify ancient Indian rights believing they have not changed with time. The oldest legal rights in America are that of the Indians. The United States government recognizes Indian rights in order to occupy the land (Getches et al, 1998).

There are many practical reasons for understanding federal Indian law in its entirety. The increasing activism in the United States court systems has brought on many more litigations. Federal Indian law is complex in understanding Indians position as being sovereign, the agreements made with 380 treaties, the lack of state jurisdiction, and the Indian land, mineral, gas, oil, and water rights (Getches et al, 1998).

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