Johnson v. Gearlds

Syllabus

<p>Where complainant’s entire case rests on the construction of treaties with Indians in regard to reservations and on the claim that certain of such treaties have been repealed by the subsequent admission of the Territory within which the reservations are situated, this court has jurisdiction of a direct appeal from the District Court under § 238, Judicial Code.</p> <p>The provision in Article VII of the treaty with the Minnesota Chippewa Indians of 1855, that the laws of Congress prohibiting the manufacture and introduction of liquor in Indian country shall be in force within the entire boundaries of the country ceded by that treaty to the United States until otherwise provided by Congress, relates to the outer boundaries and includes all the reservations that lie within.</p> <p>It is within the constitutional power of Congress to prohibit the manufacture, introduction or sale of intoxicants upon Indian lands, including not only land reserved for their special occupancy, but also lands outside of the reservations to which they may naturally resort; and this prohibition may extend even with respect to lands lying within the bounds of States.</p> <p>Article VII of the Chippewa treaty of 1855 was not repealed directly or by implication by the subsequent act of Congress admitting Minnesota into the Union, nor was that article repealed by the effect of the subsequent treaties with the same bands of Chippewas of 1865 and 1867; but the intent of treaties of 1855,1865 and 1867, as construed together, was that the acts of Congress relating to the introduction and sale of liquor in Indian country should continue in force-within the entire boundaries of the country in question until otherwise provided by Congress.</p> <p>Article VII of the Chippewa Treaty of 1855 has not been superseded by any of the provisions of the Nelson Act of 1889, or the cessions made by the Indians to the United States pursuant thereto; nor has that article been superseded by reason of any change in