Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/337/86
Timestamp: 2019-12-13 21:12:04
Document Index: 5570545

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 358', '§ 221', '§ 411', '§ 358', '§ 226', '§ 371', '§ 351', '§ 365']

HYNES, Regional Director, Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, v. GRIMES PACKING CO. et al. | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
337 U.S. 86 (69 S.Ct. 968, 93 L.Ed. 1231)
dissent, RUTLEDGE, BLACK, MURPHY [HTML]
'Sec. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to designate as an Indian reservation any area of land which has been reserved for the use and occupancy of Indians or Eskimos by section 8 of the Act of May 17, 1884 ( 23 Stat. 26), or by section 14 or section 15 of the Act of March 3, 1891 ( 26 Stat. 1101), or which has been heretofore reserved under any executive order and placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior or any bureau thereof, together with additional public lands adjacent thereto, within the Territory of Alaska, or any other public lands which are actually occupied by Indians or Eskimos within said Territory: Provided, That the designation by the Secretary of the Interior of any such area of land as a reservation shall be effective only upon its approval by the vote, by secret ballot, of a majority of the Indian or Eskimo residents thereof who vote at a special election duly called by the Secretary of the Interior upon thirty days' notice: * * *'
'The foregoing prohibition shall not apply to fishing by natives in possession of said reservation, nor to fishing by other pesons under authority granted by said natives ( 49 Stat. 1250; 48 U.S.C. 358a (48 U.S.C.A. § 358a)). Such authority shall be granted only by or pursuant to ordinance of the Native Village of Karluk, approved by the Secretary of the Interior or his duly authorized representative.'
The authority for the regulation is given as 34 Stat. 264 and 478, as amended by the Act of June 6, 1924, 43 Stat. 464, 48 U.S.C.A. § 221 et seq., an Act for the protection of the fisheries of Alaska, known as the White Act.3 As the controlling section of this statute also is important, it is set out here,444 Stat. 752:
Section 2 of the extending act, set out at the beginning of this opinion, 337 U.S. 91, 69 S.Ct. 972, supra, gives no power to the Secretary to dispose finally of federal lands. B the new section he is authorized simply 'to designate as an Indian reservation' any other public lands which are actually occupied by Indians or Eskimos within said Territory. There is no language in the various acts, in their legislative history, or in the Land Order 128, from which an inference can be drawn that the Secretary has or has claimed power to convey any permanent title or right to the Indians in the lands or waters of Karluk Reservation. Rather the contrary is true. In the Act of May 14, 1898, 30 Stat. 409, 48 U.S.C. 411, 48 U.S.C.A. § 411, 'Extending the homestead laws and providing for right of way for reilroads in the District of Alaska, and for other purposes,' there is the express proviso that nothing contained in the Act 'shall be construed as impairing in any degree the title of any State that may hereafter be erected out of the Territory of Alaska, or any part thereof, to tide lands and beds of any of its navigable waters, or the right of such State to regulate the use thereof, nor the right of the United States to resume possession of such lands, it being declared that all such rights shall continue to be held by the United States in trust for the people of any State or States which may hereafter be erected out of said Territory. The term 'navigable waters,' as herein used, shall be held to include all tidal waters up to the line of ordinary high tide and all nontidal waters navigable in fact up to the line of ordinary high-water mark.' Indeed the United States affirms in its brief that Karluk Reservation is merely a reservation 'for a particular governmental use,' not a disposal of the area. The government says it is like Sioux Tribe v. United States, 316 U.S. 317, 62 S.Ct. 1095, 86 L.Ed. 1501, not like United States v. Holt State Bank, 270 U.S. 49, 46 S.Ct. 197, 70 L.Ed. 465.
'This provision in reality carries out the promise of this Government contained in its act approved on May 17, 1884 ( 23 Stat. 26), as follows:
Jurisdictional questions aside, I am in full agreement with the Court's conclusion that Public Land Order 128, 8 F.R. 8557,1 is valid and was effective, according to its terms, to include in the reservation for the Karluk Indians the tidelands and coastal waters therein described. This action was taken pursuant to the statutory authorizations recited in the order and particularly the Act of May 1, 1936, 49 Stat. 1250, 48 U.S.C. 358a, 48 U.S.C.A. § 358a. When approved by the Indians in accordance with the proviso of the latter Act, Order 128 withdrew the area covered from any general or public right of access for fishing or other purposes inconsistent with those of the reservation and set aside that area for the exclusive benefit of the Indian occupants and inhabitants. Cf. Alaska Pacific Fisheries v. United States, 248 U.S. 78, 39 S.Ct. 40, 63 L.Ed. 138. The necessary effect was to forbid others to enter the area for purposes inconsistent with the reservation's objects, thus making persons so entering trespassers and subject to such remedies as the law may afford to prevent or redress their wrongful entry.
43 Stat. 466, 48 U.S.C. 226, 48 U.S.C.A. § 226.
Act of May 14, 1898, c. 299, 30 Stat. 409, 48 U.S.C. 371, 48 U.S.C.A. § 371 (homestead laws); Act of March 3, 1899, c. 424, 30 Stat. 1098, 48 U.S.C. 351, 48 U.S.C.A. § 351 (public land surveys); Act of March 2, 1907, c. 2537, 34 Stat. 1232, 48 U.S.C. 365, 48 U.S.C.A. § 365 (land districts).