Native American Tribal Law

Native American Tribes and Nations are self-governing sovereigns that exist simultaneously within the United States, yet separate and apart from many Federal and State laws and institutions. This three-part course explores the unique legal and political status of the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population - American Indians and Alaska Natives - and the 574 Federally recognized Tribes, Nations, Pueblos, and Rancherias to which many belong.

Part II of this III Part course, "Native American Tribal Law," introduces the laws and court system of the Navajo Nation - the largest Indian reservation in the United States, bigger than West Virginia - as a case study for understanding the scope of Tribal civil and criminal law and jurisdiction. Attorneys, Judges, and other professionals have a continuing legal and ethical duty of competence, which in the Tribal context means learning about the Native American legal and political institutions where they practice and conduct business. As with the laws of many other Tribes, the Navajo Nation Code, and common law decisions by the Nation's courts, are often based on cultural principles that differ markedly from Anglo-American jurisprudence.  

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand that the law of a given Tribe is the presumptively controlling body of law and regulation where that Tribe retains its inherent sovereign authority to regulate and adjudicate civil matters on its reservation homelands
2. Learn some fundamentals as to how the second largest Tribe in the United States, the Navajo Nation - home to the country's largest Indian reservation - has established Navajo law, rather than federal or State law, as its primary rule of decision for all official decision-making
3. Begin to appreciate how Navajo law - including codified statutory law, common law decisions by the Navajo Nation courts, and unwritten Diné Fundamental Law - differs from Anglo-American law
4. Embrace the principle that attorneys, judges, and other professionals have a legal and ethical duty of competence to learn about the laws of the Tribes with which they may be dealing