What is a tribal court?

A court established and administered under the customary law of an Indian tribe with jurisdiction over the activities of Indians in Indian Country.

Brief History

From 1774 to 1832, the United States and sovereign American Indians nations negotiated and established law of borders and conditions between each other. By early nineteenth-century, a series of Supreme Court decisions (Johnson v. M’Intosh, 1823; Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831; Worcester v. Georgia, 1832) gave the U.S. basic rights over Indians justified by discovery and conquest. The Supreme Court also recognized their duties to Indians as and the right of Indians to manage themselves.

In the 1880s and onward, the “allotment” policy divided Indian land into private holdings or reservations. In 1953, the federal law Public Law 280 (commonly referred to as PL280) gave States jurisdiction over Indians on tribal land. PL280 aimed to support the integration of Indians into larger society while ensuring non-Indians could not be controlled by Indians.

By the 1970s, major changes to the allotment policy led to the federal government recognizing and favoring tribal sovereignty. Tribal sovereignty at this time was acknowledged as having existed prior to the American Constitution. Additionally, principles of international law revealed the United States was not entitled to preempt the original sovereignty of indigenous people of the Americas. Under this policy shift, the question how a “tribe” is defined and who belongs to such tribes came to the forefront. In American law, a “tribe” is dually referred to as an ethnologically defined group of people sharing common heritage and community while others see it as a legally recognized political entity. Over the past few decades, Indian Country has made major strides in the development and self-governance of Indian tribes through tribal courts.