“What were the human rights, what were the political rights, what were the property rights of the native peoples,” he says. “The Spanish crown, and eventually other countries, had to deal with that.”
The result was a set of laws regulating interactions between government entities and tribes. Modern American Indian law addresses everything from who controls tribal land to debates over centuries-old treaties.
Such a debate has played out in Newport News, Va., where the Mattaponi American Indian tribe has battled the construction of a 12.2 billion gallon reservoir it claims violates a 17th-century treaty. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld a state permit for construction on Nov. 4.
Justices ruled, however, that a lower court must decide whether the project violates a 1677 treaty with the Mattaponi tribe.
Jordan, a Mattaponi, says the bulk of native law is federal and has little impact on Virginia’s eight tribes since none is federally recognized. But that could soon change.
Six Virginia tribes are awaiting word from Congress on long-standing bids for recognition. The decades-old effort, if successful, could make them eligible for assistance programs and other benefits.
Congress awarded $6 billion in funding to the nation’s 562 recognized tribes in 2004.
— Associated Press
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