Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut
Encyclopedia
Indigenous land rights
Indigenous land rights are hangtime the rights of indigenous peoples to land, either individually or collectively. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to indigenous peoples for a range of reasons, including: the religious significance of the land, self-determination,...
litigation in history in a common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
jurisdiction. Prof. James Youngblood Henderson calls the case "the first major legal test of indigenous tenure." Prof. Robert Clinton calls it the "first formal litigation of North American Indian rights," "the first major eighteenth century challenge to local colonial control of relations with Indian tribes," and “the greatest cause ever heard at the Council Board.”
The case established that "in certain circumstances native nations on reserved lands in British colonies were subject, not to colonial jurisdictions established for settlers, but to their own traditional customs." The Mohegan claim was not a claim to aboriginal title
Aboriginal title
Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism...
, but rather a claim that certain lands were held in trust by the descendants of John Mason on their behalf.
The dispute
English settlers arrived on the coast of ConnecticutConnecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
in the 1630s, coming into contact with the Mohegan people. The Mohegan sachem
Sachem
A sachem[p] or sagamore is a paramount chief among the Algonquians or other northeast American tribes. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms from different Eastern Algonquian languages...
Uncas
Uncas
Uncas was a sachem of the Mohegan who through his alliance with the English colonists in New England against other Indian tribes made the Mohegan the leading regional Indian tribe in lower Connecticut.-Early life and family:...
ceded all Mohegan lands to them in 1640, with the exception of a reserve of farms and hunting grounds. The reserved lands were later conveyed to Major John Mason, the future deputy governor, in 1659. The conveyance was to Mason and his heirs "as their Protector and Guardian In Trust for the whole Moheagan Tribe." Mason transferred the land to the colonial government in 1660, on the condition that sufficient land be left for the Mohegans to farm.
Both the Mohegans and Mason's heirs argued—during the century long dispute—that this last transfer was invalid, and that his heirs continued to hold the land in trust for the Mohegans. Connecticut was incorporate by royal charter in 1662, with its boundaries including the disputed lands. A 1681 treaty between the Mohegans and the colony acknowledged some sort of Mohegan interest in the land and provided that the colony would administer "Equal Justice" to Mohegans "as our own people" if they "before hand declared their Subjection to our Laws." The colony began granting the disputed land in 1687 by legislation and orders in council.
1704 Dudley Commission
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
that the Crown could establish a court with the authority to hear the dispute, and enforce its decision upon the colony should the Mohegans prevail. Northey also expressed his opinion that the act of Connecticut in granting the land was "illegal and void." In March 1704, the Board of Trade agreed and referred Northey's advice to the Crown. The Board of Trade also recommended that the Crown cover the legal fees of the Mohegans.
The Crown agreed in April 1704 and referred the dispute to Governor Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley was an English colonial administrator. A native of Roxbury, Massachusetts and son of one of its founders, he had a leading role in the administration of the unpopular Dominion of New England , and served briefly on the council of the Province of New York, where he oversaw the trial...
and the council of Massachusetts, with a Commission empowering them to form a tribunal. The Commissions ruling was to be legally binding without subsequent approval by the Crown, but the right of appeal to the Privy Council was reserved. Walters argues that the Mohegans must have been considered a "component of the Empire" in order for the Crown to have original jurisdiction
Original jurisdiction
The original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a court has the power to review a lower court's decision.-France:...
over a dispute between them and Connecticut. The Attorney General later opined, in denying to create a similar Commission to mediate a dispute between settlers in New Jersey and the colony of New Jersey over the purchase of Native American lands by the settlers, that the situations were inapposite because there was "no common Court of Justice" between the Mohegans and Connecticut.
Connecticut contested the jurisdiction of the Commission and did not participate further. Dudley and the Commission unanimously sided with the Mohegans in 1705.
1706 Commission of Review
On appeal from the colony, the Privy CouncilJudicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
appellate committee granted a Commission of Review in 1706. This Commission never met.
1737 Commission of Review
A second such Commission was established in 1737. The second Commission consisted of the Governor of Rhode Island, and members from the councils of Rhode Island and New York. That Commission sided with Connecticut in 1738, on the grounds that Ben Uncas—who was embroiled in a sachem succession dispute—was the valid sachem and had recently released Connecticut from the claim. After the Commission determiend that Ben Uncas was the sachem, before reaching the merits, the New York council members (who had dissented on the sachem issue) accused the Rhode Island council members of bias and left. The merits decision was ultimately set aside because of "alleged irregularities" and a third Commission was called.1743 Commission of Review
The third Commission sided with Connecticut in 1743. The sachem issue was not re-litigated because Connecticut withdrew its objection. Third-party tenants were allowed to raise an objection to the jurisdiction of the original tribunal. The Commission eventually reached the merits and decided that the deeds were valid.Privy Council decision
The Mohegans appealed to the Privy CouncilJudicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
; the appeal began in 1770 and the Privy Council sided with Connecticut in 1772, without a written opinion. The Crown confirmed this decision in 1773.
Reporting
The decision was not reported in a law reporter. In fact, no reported judicial decisions from the 17th or 18th centuries recognized or applied Aboriginal customary law.J.H. Smith provides a detailed history of the legal proceedings of the case, but reports quotations from the decision only sporadically.
Aboriginal title
A summary of Mohegan Indians was included by Chief Justice John MarshallJohn Marshall
John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...
in his opinion in Johnson v. M'Intosh
Johnson v. M'Intosh
Johnson v. M'Intosh, 21 U.S. 543 , is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that held that private citizens could not purchase lands from Native Americans...
(1823):
The controversy between the colony of Connecticut and the Mohegan Indians, depended on the nature and extent of a grant made by those Indians to the colony; on the nature and extent of the reservations made by the Indians, in their several deeds and treaties, which were alleged to be recognised by the legitimate authority; and on the violation by the colony of rights thus reserved and secured. We do not perceive, in that case, any assertion of the principle, that individuals might obtain a complete and valid title from the Indians.
Tribal sovereignty
Some commentators have suggested that Mogehan Indians stood for the proposition that British law recognized indigenous tribal nations as having rights of sovereignty. For example, J.H. Smith claims that the Mohegans were "juristically regarded as sovereign." Mark WaltersMark Walters
Mark Everton Walters is a retired professional footballer from Birmingham, England.-Aston Villa:Walters began his career as an apprentice at Aston Villa on leaving school in the summer of 1980, turning the professional a year later - just after Villa's Football League First Division title triumph...
, a lecturer at Oxford, disagrees with these claims. However, Walters agrees that, if true, that interpretation of the decision would "revolutionize the traditional understanding of Aboriginal legal status in Canada."
Modern relitigation and settlement
United States District Court for the District of Connecticut
The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven. Appeals from the court are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...
for possession of lands in the northeast portion of Montville, Connecticut
Montville, Connecticut
Montville is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 18,546 at the 2000 census and 19,571 at the 2010 census....
. Judge Blumenfeld rejected the state's motion to dismiss, holding that the Indian Nonintercourse Act applied to the entire country, including the lands in question. The Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
upheld this ruling on interlocutory appeal
Interlocutory appeal
An interlocutory appeal , in the law of civil procedure, is an appeal of a ruling by a trial court that is made before the trial itself has concluded. Most jurisdictions generally prohibit such appeals, requiring parties to wait until the trial has concluded before they challenge any of the...
, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari
Certiorari
Certiorari is a type of writ seeking judicial review, recognized in U.S., Roman, English, Philippine, and other law. Certiorari is the present passive infinitive of the Latin certiorare...
.
On remand, Blumenthal granted the Mohegan's motion to strike the state's affirmative defenses, holding that the state's title—acquired from private parties who acquired the land in violation of the Nonintercourse Act—was void, and that the Tenth
Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791...
and Eleventh
Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was passed by the Congress on March 4, 1794, and was ratified on February 7, 1795, deals with each state's sovereign immunity. This amendment was adopted in order to overrule the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Chisholm v...
amendments did not bar the suit. Finally, Blumenthal struck the state's defense of res judicata
Res judicata
Res judicata or res iudicata , also known as claim preclusion, is the Latin term for "a matter [already] judged", and may refer to two concepts: in both civil law and common law legal systems, a case in which there has been a final judgment and is no longer subject to appeal; and the legal doctrine...
based on the 18th century lawsuit, holding—inter alia—that "the 1743 judgment itself recognizes the Indians' possessory right to the lands at issue in this action."
On March 15, 1994, the Department of the Interior granted the Mohegans federal recognition. On October 19, 1994, the U.S. Congress passed the Mohegan Nation (Connecticut) Land Claim Settlement Act, extinguishing all of the Mohegan's aboriginal title in Connecticut and all claims of the Mohegan Nation against the state, in exchange for the approval of Mohegan gaming operations
Native American gambling enterprises
Native American gaming enterprises are gaming businesses operated on Indian reservations or tribal land in the United States. Indian tribes have limited sovereignty over these businesses and therefore are granted the ability to establish gambling enterprises outside of direct state...
; the remaining Mohegan reservation lands
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
were transferred to the United States in trust. The Mohegan Sun
Mohegan Sun
Mohegan Sun, located in Uncasville, Connecticut, is the second largest casino in the United States with of gaming space. It is located on along the banks of the Thames River. It is at the heart of the scenic foothills of southeastern Connecticut, where 60 percent of the state's tourism is...
, the second largest casino in the United States, opened on October 12, 1996.