Skip to Main Content

Native American Law: Cases & Restatement

Research guide to support the spring 2024 Native American Law course taught by Professor Precious Benally.

Cases (subscription, BLS Library)

Westlaw (enter Westlaw username/password):

Federal Native American Law Cases (in Westlaw)

  • Contents: Westlaw states "[c]overage begins with 1789" and provides "reported and unreported case law from the federal courts that relate to peoples native to the United States."

Lexis+ (enter Lexis+ username/password):

Provides only these large databases: Native American Cases – Federal, State & Tribal and All Federal & State Cases, Combined.

HeinOnline:

Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law (in HeinOnline) 

  • Access tip: To access this database from a remote location, implement the BLS proxy server instructions for one web browser. Librarians recommend the proxy server instructions for Firefox browser.   

Includes:

Indian Claims Commission Decisions (publicly accessible + subscription, BLS Library)

Publicly Accessible:

Indian Claims Commission Decisions ("All 43 volumes of this collection were digitized by the OSU Library in cooperation with the University of Tulsa Law Library and the National Indian Law Library.") (@ Oklahoma State University Library)

  • OSU Library also provides a brief history of the Indian Claims Commission and notes that the Indian Claims Commission Act permitted the  U.S. Court of Claims "to review findings of the Indian Claims Commission and appeal to the Supreme Court."

HeinOnline:

Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law (in HeinOnline) 

  • Access tip: To access this database from a remote location, implement the BLS proxy server instructions for one web browser. Librarians recommend the proxy server instructions for Firefox browser.   

Includes:

Notes:

National Indian Law Library provides this research guide: Indian Claims Commission Materials.

New York Public Library, Schwarzman Building allows researchers to "request for on-site use": Harvey D. Rosenthal, Their Day in Court: A History of the Indian Claims Commission (1990) and Imre Sutton, ed., Irredeemable America: The Indians' Estate and Land Claims (1985).  NYPL library card holders also can request scans of pages from these sources. 

In the Spring 2024 semester, BLS librarians will ask vendor ProQuest if BLS can obtain a trial of database: Indian Claims Insight. 

Some document collections are only available for on-site research. 

Restatement (subscription, BLS Library)

Restatement of the Law, The Law of American Indians (in HeinOnline) (remote access requires use of the BLS proxy server)

Reporter: Matthew L.M. Fletcher, University of Michigan School of Law

Associate Reporters: Wenona T. Singel, Michigan State University College of Law & Kaighn Smith, Jr., Drummond Woodsum, Portland ME.

Contents:
Chapter 1. Federal–Tribal Relations
Chapter 2. Tribal Authority
Chapter 3. State-Tribal Relations
Chapter 4. Tribal Economic Development
Chapter 5. Indian Country Criminal Jurisdiction
Chapter 6. Natural Resources
 
Restatement of the Law, The Law of American Indians (in Westlaw) (enter Westlaw username/password)
 
Restatement of the Law, The Law of American Indians (in Lexis+) (enter Lexis+ username/password)
 

Books

See the books below, highlighted on other pages of this guide:

Under Casebooks & Recommended Resources, see descriptions of:

  • Cases and Materials on Federal Indian Law (7th ed. 2017)
  • American Indian Law in a Nutshell (7th ed. 2020)

Under Handbook, Deskbook & Guide, see descriptions of:

  • Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law (in Lexis+)
  • The Rights of Indians and Tribes (5th ed. 2024)