Seneca Nation of Indians v. Christy

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1896 United States Supreme Court case

Seneca Nation of Indians v. Christy, 162 U.S. 283 (1896), was the first litigation of aboriginal title in the United States by a tribal plaintiff in the Supreme Court of the United States since _Cherokee Nation v. Georgia _ (1831). It was the first such litigation by an indigenous plaintiff since _Fellows v. Blacksmith _ (1857) and its companion case of _New York ex rel. Cutler v. Dibble _ (1858). The New York courts held that the 1788 Phelps and Gorham Purchase did not violate the Nonintercourse Act , one of the provisions of which prohibits purchases of Indian lands without the approval of the federal government, and that (even if it did) the Seneca Nation of Indians was barred by the state statute of limitations from challenging the transfer of title. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the merits of lower court ruling because of the adequate and independent state grounds doctrine.

According to O'Toole and Tureen , "Christy is an important case in that it revived the concept that states had special powers to deal with Indian tribes within their borders."

Although the case has not been formally overruled , two Supreme Court decisions in the 1970s and 1980s have undone its effect by ruling that there is federal subject-matter jurisdiction for a federal common law cause of action for recovering possession based on the common-law doctrine of aboriginal title . Moreover, the New York courts' interpretation of the Nonintercourse Act is no longer good law. Modern federal courts hold that only Congress can ratify a conveyance of aboriginal title, and only with a clear statement , rather than implicitly.

Background

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James Clark Strong , lawyer for the Seneca

Conveyance

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Further information: Phelps and Gorham Purchase

The land in question, which had been part of the Seneca Nation 's traditional territory for centuries before the American Revolution , comprised part of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase , a tract of land disputed after the war between claims of New York and Massachusetts. By a December 16, 1786 interstate compact , the states agreed that Massachusetts would retain the proprietary rights and the pre-emption rights , but New York would retain governmental rights. After the adoption of the United States Constitution in 1787, the federal government ratified their compact.

Three private individuals—Robert Troup , Thomas L. Ogden, and Benjamin W. Rogers—obtained the proprietary and preemptive rights from Massachusetts. They executed a treaty of conveyance with the Seneca on August 31, 1826, purchasing 87,000 acres for $48,216. Massachusetts approved the conveyance, but the United States Senate was never consulted and never ratified the treaty, as required for treaties with Native American nations. In 1827, the money was deposited in Ontario Bank in Canandaigua, New York , and in 1855 it was paid to the United States treasury , which began remitting the interest to the Seneca Nation .

Dispute

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Further information: Aboriginal title in New York

The Seneca Nation could not have brought the lawsuit until 1845, when the New York legislature granted the nation the right to bring suits in courts of law and equity. The Seneca filed a petition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on January 5, 1881, requesting restoration and possession of certain lands related to the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. This petition was ignored by the BIA.

The Seneca hired the lawyer James Clark Strong to represent them, a "prominent lawyer and civic-minded resident of Buffalo ." Strong was a former lieutenant colonel in the Union army (brevetted to general after the war). He had a permanent limp from his wounds in the American Civil War . At the law practice of his brother, John C. Strong, he had also represented the Cayuga in a claim against New York state.

Procedural history

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New York trial court

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The Seneca brought suit in the Circuit Court of Erie County, New York on October 13, 1885. The Seneca requested the ejectment of Harrison B. Christy from 100 acres of land in the town of Brant, New York (purchased from the Ogden Land Company ), known as the "mile strip." These lands were formerly part of the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation , as established by the New York Treaty of Big Tree (1797).

The Seneca contended that the purchase was invalid because the treaty was not approved by the Senate, as required by the Constitution; therefore it violated the Nonintercourse Act . Christy's "answer consisted of a general denial, the plea of the statute of limitations of 20 years, and that the plaintiff had not the legal right, title, capacity, or authority to maintain the action."

New York intermediate appellate court

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The Seneca claim disputed the Phelps and Gorham Purchase .

The General Term of the Fifth Department of the New York Supreme Court heard the intermediate appeal. Bradley J., writing for himself and Dwight J.J., affirmed. The court considered whether the Indians had properly surrendered the land and whether the considerat

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