1. Provide a brief historical and legal outline of the federal Indian law context within which tribal courts function.
2. Give a short history of modern tribal courts beginning with the Courts of Indian Offenses.
3. Expose students to some of the issues that tribal courts face today.
4. Provide stories which are enjoyable, present a sense of reservation life, and show the role that custom plays in everyday life.

Tribal Law Under U.S. Legal Hegemony: Stories, Sovereignty, and Federal Indian Law

"Stories of Origin and Constitutional Possibilities," Milner S. Ball, 87

Michigan Law Review 2280 (1989)

Ex Parte Crow Dog, 109 U.S. 556 (1883)

United States v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375 (1886)

Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49 (1977)

Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, 435 U.S. 191 (1978)

National Farmers Union v. Crow Tribe, 471 U.S. 845 (1985)

Muscogee(Creek) Nation v. Hodel, 851 F.2d 1439 (D.C. Cir.1988)

Tribal Courts, Tribal Justice, American Indians, American Justice, Vine Deloria, Jr. & Clifford M. Lytle, (Austin: University of Texas Press 1983), Chapters 4-5

"Courts of Indian Offense," Henry M. Teller, in Americanizing the American Indians: Writings by the "Friends of the Indian" 1880-1900 (Francis Paul Prucha, ed., Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, rept. Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1973)

"Rules for Indian Courts," Thomas J. Morgan, in Americanizing the American Indians: Writings by the "Friends of the Indian" 1880-1900 (Francis Paul Prucha, ed., Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, reprint Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1973)

Testimony by Judge Carol Redcherries, Justice in Indian Country 97 (Carrie Small, ed., Oakland: American Indian Lawyer Training Program 1980)

Dance Me Outside, W.P. Kinsella, (Canada: Oberon Press 1977, reprint Boston David R. Godine 1986)

1. Expose students to some Native American ways of thinking about society and values.
2. Consider the challenges and difficulties of approaching, studying, and understanding non-Western legal systems in a respectful manner.
3. Introduce students to the concept of Indian common law and traditional legal institutions.
4. Discuss the problems of information and knowledge facing scholars and legal practicioners studying Indian common law.

Through Native Eyes

"Killing Killing Killing Killing," Leslie M. Silko, in Ceremony 132 (New York: Viking Press 1977)

"Grief and a Headhunter's Rage," Renato Rosaldo, in Culture and Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis 1 (Boston: Beacon Press 1989)

Keynote address, Reuben Snake, Justice in Indian Country 80 (Carrie Small, ed., Oakland: American Indian Lawyer Training Program 1980)

"Nature and Spirit of North American Political Systems," R.L. Barsh, 10 (3) American Indian Quarterly 181 (1986)

Searching for Indian Common Law The Cheyenne Way, Karl N. Llewellyn & E. Adamson Hoebel, (Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press 1941), Chapter 1

"What is Law?," E. Adamson Hoebel, in The Law of Primitive Man: A Study in Comparative Legal Dynamics 18 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1954)

Anthropology of Law: A Comparative Theory 341-45, Leopold Pospsil, (New York, Evanston, San Francisco, London: Harper & Row 1971)

Rules and Processes: The Cultural Logic of Dispute in an African Context 3-17, John L. Comaroff & Simon Roberts, (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago 1981)

Law without Sanctions: Order in Primitive Societies and the World Community 89-92, Michael Barkun, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press 1968)

"Searching for Indian Common Law," James W. Zion, in Indigenous Law and the State 121 (Morse and Woodman, eds. Dordrecht [Netherlands]: Forus Publications 1988)

1. Discuss traditional Cherokee law concepts and ways prior to and during the 18th century and how they changed with the encroachment of and intermarriage with Anglo-Americans.
2. Begin developing the skills to critique anthropologists' and other scholars' works from a "native" perspective.

Friends of Thunder: Folktales of the Oklahoma Cherokees, Jack F. and Anna G. Kilpatrick, (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press 1964), selected stories.

Fire and the Spirits: Cherokee Law from Clan to Court, Rennard Strickland, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1975), Chs. 1-2

A Law of Blood, John Phillip Reid, (New York: New York University Press 1970), Chs. 1, 8-11, 21-23

1. Discuss traditional Cherokee law concepts and practices in the 19th and 20th centuries and how they have changed over that period.
2. Discuss the changes in government legal institutions among the Cherokee during the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century and the impact they have had on the Cherokee people.

Fire and the Spirits: Cherokee Law from Clan to Court, Rennard Strickland, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1975), Chs. 3, 5-6, and 8-11

"Symbolic Structure and Political Change in Cherokee Society," Duane Champagne, Journal of Cherokee Studies 87 (Fall 1983)

"The Constitutional Experiences of the Five Civilized Tribes," Arrell M. Gibson, 2 American Indian Law Review 17 (Winter 1974)

"From Blood Revenge to the Lighthorsemen: Evolution of Law Enforcement Institutions Among the Five Civilized Tribes," Bob L. Blackburn, 8 American Indian Law Review 49 (1980)

1. Discuss traditional Hopi law concepts and practices and their role in contemporary Hopi life and in the Hopi Tribal Court.

"The Institutions, Laws and Values of the Hopi Indians: A Stable State Society," John W. Ragsdale, Jr., 55 University of Missouri - Kansas City Law Review 335-391 (1987)

* Guest Speaker *

Honorable Robert H. Ames, Chief Judge, Hopi Tribal Court

1. Discuss traditional Cheyenne law concepts and ways, particularly as shown by Cheyenne narratives. Consider how Cheyenne law has changed over the years.
2. Discuss the concept of a nation or state and how it applies to native tribes and modern states such as the United States.
3. Compare different views of Cheyenne history (e.g. non-native anthropologists vs. Cheyenne) and the changes in culture the Cheyenne have experienced.

"White Buffalo Woman," Henrietta Whiteman, The American Indian and the Problem of History, (Calvin Martin, ed., New York: Oxford University Press 1987), Chapter 17

By Cheyenne Campfires, George Bird Grinnell, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1926), selected stories.

The Southern Cheyennes, Donald J. Berthrong, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1963), Chapter 3

The Cheyenne Way, Karl N. Llewellen and E. Adamson Hoebel, (Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press 1941), Chapters 4-5

"A Discussion of the Nation-State Status of American Indian Tribes: A Case Study of the Cheyenne Nation," Robert A. Fairbanks, 3 (10) American Indian Journal 2 (October 1977)

1. Discuss and compare traditional Cheynne values, ways, and institutions and Anglo institutions in contemporary Northern Cheyenne life.
2. Try to evaluate anthropological and other sources from a Cheyenne perspective. Discuss both Cheyenne and the non-Indian critiques of The Cheyenne Way.

The Cheyenne Way, Karl N. Llewellen and E. Adamson Hoebel, (Norman and Lodon: University of Oklahoma Press 1941), Chapters 6-9, 12

Book Review of The Cheyenne Way, Huntington Cairns, 55 Harvard Law Review 707 (1942)

Book Review of The Cheyenne Way, Claude Levi-Strauss, 1 Journal of Legal and Political Sociology 155 (October 1942)

* Guest Speaker *

Honorable Carol Redcherries, former Chief Justice, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Court

1. Discuss traditional Hupa law and the role it plays in contemporary Hupa life.

Professor David Risling, Professor of American Indian Studies, U.C. Davis

1. Develop an understanding of the formation of the Iroquois Confederacy and the purposes of the Great Law.
2. Explore how the Iroquois' traditional legal system compares ones we have studied previously.

"The Great Law," in Traditional Teachings, Barbara Kawnehe Barnes, (Cornwall Island, Ont.: North American Indian Travelling College 1984) The White Roots of Peace, Paul A. W. Wallace, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1946, rept. Saranac Lake, NY: Chauncey Press 1986)

"The Civic and Governmental Ideals of the Iroquois Confederacy," Arthur C. Parker, in The Forgotten Founders (Bruce E. Johansen, ed., Ipswich, MA: Gambit 1982), Chapter 2

"Reading Wampum Belts as Living Symbols," Paul Williams, Northeast Indian Quarterly 31 (Spring 1990)

"Oral Memory of the Haudenosaunee: Views of the Two Row Wampum," Richard Hill, Northeast Indian Quarterly 21 (Spring 1990)

* Guest Speaker *

Irving Powless, Jr., Chief, Onondaga Nation

1. Examine the role of legends in Iroquois society.
2. Discuss how the legal system has changed and what methods the Iroquois are using to return to their traditional legal system.

"The Naked Bear," in Legends of the Long House, Jessie Cornplanter, (Port Washington, NY: I.J. Friedman 1963)

"The Unbroken Circle: Contemporary Iroquois Storytelling," Joseph Bruchac, Northeast Indian Quarterly 13 (Spring 1990)

"Resurrecting the Peace: Traditionalist Approaches to Separate Justice in the Kahnawake Mohawk Nation," Elizabeth Jane Dickson-Gilmore, 1 The International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences 260 (1990)

"From Bad to Worse: Internal Politics in the 1990 Crisis at Kahnawake," Gerald R. Alfred, Northeast Indian Quarterly 23 (Spring 1990)

Basic Call to Consciousness 9-17, 71-91, (Akwesasne Notes, ed., rev. ed., Summertown, TN: Book Pub. Co. 1991)

1. Study how the Senecas' legal system has changed.
2. Examine the role of women in Iroquois Society.

American Indian Tribal Governments, Sharon O'Brien, (Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press 1989)

Seneca Constitution of 1848, Seneca Nation of Indians, (Salamanca, NY: Seneca Nation of Indians)

Seneca Constition of 1848, as amended, Seneca Nation of Indians, (Salamanca NY: Seneca Nation of Indians)

"The Jurisdictional Relationship Between the Iroqois and New York State: An Analysis of 25 U.S.C. sections 232, 233," Robert Porter, 27 Harvard Journal on Legislation 497 (1990)

Women in Iroquois Society, Elisabeth Tooker, in Iroquois Women: An Anthology (W.B. Spittal, ed., Ohswoken, Ont.: Iroqrafts 1990)

* Guest Speaker *

Robert B. Porter, Attorney General, Seneca Nation of Indians

1. Develop knowledge and understanding of Navajo history and values, part- icularly as expressed in the creation text. Consider especially Navajos' beliefs about their relationship to the land, kinship, and hozho ("harmony.")
2. Discuss how the Navajo courts use common law today. Consider how such use distinguishes them from Anlo-American courts.
3. Consider the role of Navajo common law in modern Navajo society as a whole.

Navajo History and Worldview

Navajo History, Ethelou Yazzie, ed. (Chinle, AZ: Rough Rock Press 1971), pp. 9-46, 59-73

"What and Why is a Sacred Place," Andrew Natonabah, m.s., n.d.

"The Relationship Between People and the Land: Navajo Religious Teaching," Jimmie C. Begay, m.s., n.d.

"From the Early Days to the Twentieth Century," The Navajo Nation, Peter Iverson, (Albuquerque: UNM Press, 1981), pp. 3-22

[For a more detailed but still short history see David Aberle, The Peyote Religion Among the Navaho, Chs. 4-7, "The Navaho: Beginning to 1932,"

"Livestock Reduction". The classical anthropological account of the Navajo is Clyde Kluckhohn and Dorothea Leighton, The Navajo (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, rev. 1974). A good account of the 20th century Navajo political history and government is Aubrey W. Williams, Jr., Navajo Political Process (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1970). For early and mid-20th century photographs of the Navajo see Navajo: A Century of Progress, 1868-1968, Martin A. Link, ed. (Window Rock: Navajo Tribe, 1968) and Laura Gilpin, The Enduring Navajo (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1968).]

"The Tribal Court Survives in America," Tom Tso, 25 The Judge's Journal 22 (Spring 1986)

[optional: "The Process of Decisionmaking in Tribal Courts," Tom Tso 31 Arizona Law Review 225 (1989)]

Navajo Nation Judicial Branch, Caseload Summary, 1991 Annual Report [optional: for answers to specific questions about the courts see Navajo Nation Judicial Branch, Short Guide to the Courts of the Navajo Nation, n.d.]

"Incorporating Tribal Customs and Traditions into Tribal Court Decisions, " Raymond D. Austin, m.s. April 1992

"Moral Principles, Traditions, and Fairness in the Navajo Nation Code of Judicial Conduct," 76 Judicature 15 (June/July 1992)

Adoption: Dawes v. Yazzie, 5 Nav. R. 161 (1987) In the Matter of J.J.S., 4 Nav. R. 192 (Window Rock Dist.Ct., 1983)

Land Use: Begay v. Keedah, 19 ILR 6021 (Nav.Sup.Ct., 1991) In the Matter of...Wauneka, Sr., 5 Nav. R. 79 (1986)

Torts: Benally v. Navajo Nation, 5 Nav. R. 209 (Window Rock Dist. Ct., 1986)

Probate: In the Matter of...Ben Tsosie, 4 Nav. R. 198 (Window Rock Dist. Ct., 1983)

* Guest Speaker *

Honorable Raymond Austin, Associate Justice, Navajo Supreme Court

* Goals *

1. Examine how traditional dispute resolution methods are being incorporated into the modern Navajo court system.

"Freedom, Responsibility and Duty: Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Navajo Peacemaker Court," Raymond D. Austin, 32(2) Judges' Journal P (Spring 1993).

"The Navajo Nation Peacemaker Court," Navajo Nation Judicial Branch, June 7, 1992

"The Navajo Peacemaker Court: Deference to the Old and Accomodation to the New," James W. Zion, 11 American Indian Law Review 89, 1983

* Guest Speaker *

Philmer Bluehouse, Director, Navajo Nation Peacemaker Court

1. Discuss the challenges and opportunities in applying Navajo common law to specific problems confronting modern Navajo society.

"The Use of Navajo Custom in Dealing with Rape: A Case Study," James W. Zion and Mary White, m.s., August 1986

"Hazho' Sokee' - Stay Together Nicely: Domestic Violence Under Navajo Common Law," James W. Zion & Elsie Bahe Zion, Arizona State Law Review.

1. Discuss traditional Yurok law and the role it plays in contemporary Yurok life.
2. Discuss the role of traditional Yurok values and customs in the development of the new Yurok Tribal Constitution.

"The Yurok: Law and Custom," Alfred Kroeber, in Handbook of the Indians of California 20 (Berkeley: California Book Company 1953)

"Yurok Aristocracy and 'Great Houses,'" Arnold R. Pilling, 8 American Indian Quarterly 421 (Fall 1989)

"Proposed Constitution of the Yurok Tribe," Interim Council of the Yurok Tribe (1992)

* Guest Speaker *

Sue Masten, Councilmember, Interim Council of the Yurok Tribe

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