Source: http://thorpe.ou.edu/sol_opinions/p1976-2000.htm
Timestamp: 2020-02-26 04:33:57
Document Index: 75741375

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 3', '§ 4', '§ 8', '§ 4', '§ 5', '§ 7', '§ 17', '§ 1162', '§ 1360', '§ 463', '§ 476']

North between § 3 & 4 3.46 chains 2.63 chains
North between § 4 & 5 4.85 chains
North between § 8 & 9 3.70 chains
East between § 4 & 9 7.25 chains
East between § 5 & 8 4.11 chains
North between § 7 & 8 3.25 chains
North between § 17 & 18 4.91 chains
Indians: Civil Jurisdiction--Indians: Criminal Jurisdiction -- Indian Lands: Generally -- Indian Lands: Allotments: Generally--Indian Lands: Tribal Lands--State Laws--Act of August 15, 1953, 67 Stat. 589, as amended, 18 U.S.C. § 1162 and 28 U.S.C. § 1360
More important than the opinion's description of those who participated in the 1935 election is the Deputy Solicitor's view of its effect upon the beneficial interest in the reservation. He saw the election as somehow shifting that interest from "the Ozette Indians" designated in the 1893 executive order, to an "Ozette Tribe" organized pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act, 48 Stat. 984, 25 U.S.C. § 463 et seq. Since there was no one able to claim membership in such a tribe, there never having been such a tribe, he concluded that the equitable estate in the Ozette Reservation had merged with the legal estate for lack of existing beneficiaries.
of the Indian Reorganization Act was not involved in the election. No organization of Indians on the Ozette Reservation under Section 16 of that act (25 U.S.C. § 476) has ever taken place. Section 16 simply offers the opportunity for organization; the mere fact that the Indian Reorganization Act is applicable on a given reservation does not mean that the Indians having rights on the reservation must organize thereunder. Thus, Deputy Solicitor Fritz's statement that "all Indians enrolled as Ozettes are now deceased" is erroneous to the extent that it equates voting in the 1935 election with enrollment in a tribe organized pursuant to Section 16. The two Indians who participated in the election were not "enrolled" in an organized Ozette Tribe, since such a tribe did not (and still does not) exist. In this connection, it may be noted that in a letter to the Superintendent of the Taholah Agency, dated March 14, 1935, prior to the election at Ozette, the Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs stated: