Title: Mexican v. Circle Bear
Citation: 370 N.W.2d 737
Docket Number: 14917
State: south-dakota
Issuer: south-dakota Supreme Court
Date: July 3, 1985

370 N.W.2d 737 (1985) Mabel MEXICAN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Irene CIRCLE BEAR and Sarah Mexican, Defendants and Appellees, and Campbell Paula Quinn Funeral Home, Defendants. No. 14917. Supreme Court of South Dakota. Argued May 22, 1985. Decided July 3, 1985. Michael Depree of Dakota Plains Legal Services, Eagle Butte, for plaintiff and appellant. Ramon Roubideaux, Rapid City, for defendants and appellees. Keith A. Tidball of Tidball &amp; Johnson, Pierre, for amicus curiae Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe; B. Kevin Gover of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver &amp; Jacobson, Washington, D.C., of counsel. *738 WOLLMAN, Justice. This is an appeal from a judgment of the circuit court quashing a temporary restraining order and releasing the body of Charles Mexican, deceased, to his sisters, Irene Circle Bear and Sarah Mexican. We reverse and remand with directions to give recognition to the order of the Cheyenne River Tribal Court. Charles Mexican and Mabel Mexican (for convenience we will refer to decedent and the parties by their first names) were married on March 17, 1955. Mabel is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota; Charles was an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. Irene and Sarah are enrolled members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Charles and Mabel were long-time residents of Red Scaffold, South Dakota, which is located within the boundaries of the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. Charles served as a medicine man for the Sioux Nation. He became ill in late 1984 and was treated at the Indian Health Services Hospital in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. On January 8, 1985, Indian Health Services personnel transferred Charles to Sioux Sanitorium Hospital in Rapid City, where he remained until the time of his death on March 14, 1985. During his period of hospitalization in Rapid City, Charles was not visited by Mabel, which caused him to feel estranged from and unhappy with her. During his period of hospitalization Charles executed a will that purported to disinherit Mabel. Prior to January 8, 1985, Charles' directions to Mabel were that he wished to be buried with his mother at Bridger, South Dakota. During his period of hospitalization, however, Charles expressed his desire that he be buried either with his deceased father at Rockyford, located within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, or in Rapid City, or in such place as designated by his son, John Mexican. Charles further stated that he did not want to be buried at Red Scaffold, South Dakota, and that he wanted his sisters to make arrangements for the disposal and burial of his body. Upon learning of Charles' death and of his sisters' plans to bury him in Rapid City, Mabel obtained from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court on March 15, 1985, an ex parte order enjoining Irene and Sarah from burying Charles' body and directing those having physical custody of the body to turn it over to Mabel. Upon learning that Campbell Paula Quinn Funeral Home, which had custody of the body, would not honor the tribal court order, Mabel applied to the circuit court on March 16 for a temporary restraining order and order to show cause why Irene and Sarah and the funeral home should not be permanently enjoined from interfering with her rights and duties under state law to dispose of her husband's body. The trial court issued a restraining order and order to show cause. A hearing on the order to show cause was held in Rapid City on March 18. Irene and Sarah moved to continue the circuit court proceedings until the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court had been given a chance to hold a hearing on the order that it had issued on March 15. On March 19 a hearing was held in the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court, at which Irene and Sarah, together with John Mexican and one of Irene's daughters, testified in support of Irene's and Sarah's contentions that Charles and Mabel were estranged at the time of Charles' death and that Charles had directed that he be buried at a place other than on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Counsel for Irene and Sarah stated during the course of the hearing that "our claim is a tribal custom and usage, that's our claim to the body of Charles Mexican." Again, in arguing his clients' position at the conclusion of the hearing, counsel stated: At the conclusion of the hearing, the tribal judge entered oral findings from the bench, reduced to writing and filed on March 20, and awarded custody of Charles' body to Mabel. Among other things, the tribal court judge found that the customs of both the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe are that upon the death of a married person the surviving spouse, absent any showing that the parties were separated at the time of death, has the duty to bury the deceased spouse and the right to custody of the body for the limited purpose of burial. The tribal court found that Charles and Mabel were not separated at the time of Charles' death. The tribal court also found that the will that Charles had executed on March 11, 1985, contained no direction regarding his wishes for the disposition of his body upon his death. On March 20, 1985, a further hearing was held before the circuit court in Rapid City. The trial court was made aware of the tribal court judge's findings of fact and order. At the close of the hearing, the circuit court quashed its March 16 temporary restraining order and entered a judgment awarding the custody of Charles' body to Irene and Sarah. This appeal followed. The trial court stayed its judgment pending our decision on appeal. SDCL 34-26-1 provides: SDCL 34-26-14 provides in part: "The person charged by law with the duty of burying the body of a deceased person is entitled to the custody of such body for the purpose of burying it...." SDCL 34-26-16 provides in part: .... Although there is no property right as such in a dead body, the right to bury a dead body has been recognized by the courts as a quasi-property right. See, e.g., 22 Am.Jur.2d Dead Bodies § 4 (1965); 25A C.J.S. Dead Bodies § 2 (1966). The importance of the interest of the living in the bodies of the dead has been characterized as follows: Scarpaci v. Milwaukee County, 96 Wis.2d 663, 672, 292 N.W.2d 816, 820 (1980) (quoting Koerber v. Patek, 123 Wis. 453, 102 N.W. 40 (1905)). It is with a recognition of *740 and an appreciation for the highly personal nature of the right to arrange for the burial of the body of a deceased family member that we approach the resolution of the issue before us. Mabel advances three arguments in support of her contention that the circuit court erred in entering its order of March 20, 1985: (1) that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction; (2) that the circuit court should have given full faith and credit to the tribal court's order; and (3) that the circuit court should have given recognition and effect to the tribal court's order under the doctrine of comity. We find it necessary to discuss only the last of these arguments. The doctrine of comity has been defined as follows: Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U.S. 113, 163, 16 S. Ct. 139, 143, 40 L. Ed. 95, 108 (1894). The Hilton Court went on to specify the circumstances that must exist as a condition precedent to the application of the doctrine of comity: 159 U.S. at 202-03, 16 S. Ct. at 158, 40 L. Ed. at 122. The Hilton conditions have been paraphrased as follows: In re Marriage of Red Fox, 23 Or.App. 393, 398, 542 P.2d 918, 921 (1975). See also Malaterre v. Malaterre, 293 N.W.2d 139 (N.D.1980); Medical Arts Bldg. Ltd. v. Eralp, 290 N.W.2d 241 (N.D.1980). This court has long recognized and applied the doctrine of comity. See Emerson-Brantingham Implement Co. v. Ainslie, 38 S.D. 472, 161 N.W. 1001 (1917); Knittle v. Ellenbusch, 38 S.D. 22, 159 N.W. 893 (1916). See also Seaboard Surety Co. v. First Nat'l Bank &amp; Trust Co., 121 F.2d 288 (8th Cir.1941). Tribal governments are unique in the federal system. They derive their powers of government from their inherent sovereignty and not by delegation from the federal government. United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 98 S. Ct. 1079, 55 L. Ed. 2d 303 (1978). Indian tribes exist as *741 sovereign entities with powers of self-government. See, e.g., Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U.S. 130, 102 S. Ct. 894, 71 L. Ed. 2d 21 (1982); Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544, 101 S. Ct. 1245, 67 L. Ed. 2d 493 (1981); Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 98 S. Ct. 1670, 56 L. Ed. 2d 106 (1978); United States v. Wheeler, supra; United States v. Mazurie, 419 U.S. 544, 95 S. Ct. 710, 42 L. Ed. 2d 706 (1975). This retained sovereign power may, of course, be divested by Congress. See, e.g., National Farmers Union Insurance Companies v. Crow Tribe, ___ U.S. ___, 105 S. Ct. 2447, 85 L. Ed. 2d 818 (1985); United States v. Wheeler, supra. One of the attributes of tribal sovereignty is the power to adjudicate private civil disputes. As the United States Supreme Court stated in the Martinez case, supra, "Tribal courts have repeatedly been recognized as appropriate forums for the exclusive adjudication of disputes affecting important personal and property interests of both Indians and non-Indians." 436 U.S. at 65, 98 S. Ct. at 1681-82, 56 L. Ed. 2d at 119-20. We join with those courts that have held that tribal court orders should be recognized in state courts under the principle of comity. Allen v. Industrial Commission, 92 Ariz. 357, 377 P.2d 201 (1962); Begay v. Miller, 70 Ariz. 380, 222 P.2d 624 (1950); Wippert v. Blackfeet Tribe, Etc., ___ Mont. ___, 654 P.2d 512 (1982); In re Marriage of Limpy, ___ Mont. ___, 636 P.2d 266 (1981); State v. District Court, Etc., 187 Mont. 209, 609 P.2d 290 (1980); In re Marriage of Red Fox, supra. In reaching this conclusion, we of necessity hold that the prerequisites to the application of the doctrine of comity as expressed in Hilton v. Guyot, supra, have been met. With respect to the matter of jurisdiction, it is clear beyond peradventure that Irene and Sarah voluntarily submitted to the jurisdiction of the Cheyenne River Tribal Court by litigating the merits of the conflicting claims regarding the custody of Charles' body. Counsel for Irene and Sarah forthrightly acknowledged during oral argument before this court that his clients were not contending that the March 20 tribal court order was obtained fraudulently. The order was rendered by a court that gave the competing parties adequate opportunity to present evidence on their conflicting claims. Based upon our review of the transcript of the March 19, 1985, hearing and the findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order entered following the hearing, we are satisfied that the parties were afforded an impartial hearing that satisfied the requirements of due process. Cf. In Matter of Guardianship of Sasse, 363 N.W.2d 209 (S.D.1985). True, the March 15, 1985, order was entered ex parte, but that was merely in the nature of a temporary order, as was the circuit court order of March 16. There remains the question whether the fact that tribal custom with respect to custody of a dead body is different from South Dakota law on the subject is reason enough to deny comity to the tribal court order. In Knittle, supra, the court was faced with the contention that it should not apply the law of a foreign state to the detriment of a citizen of South Dakota when there was no South Dakota law that would require the same result. Appellant refers to the well-established rule that: 38 S.D. at 27, 159 N.W. at 895. The court then went on to give several examples of cases in which the court of the forum state will not give effect to a foreign judgment under the principle of comity, none of which are applicable to the case before us. We conclude that the fact that tribal custom is different from state law in that the right of a surviving spouse to the custody of the body of the deceased spouse for the purpose of burial takes precedence over the deceased spouse's express burial wishes is not reason enough to deny effect to an order based upon that custom. We would be hard pressed to say that the state legislature could not constitutionally repeal SDCL 34-26-1. Given the diversity of decisions regarding the right to custody of a dead body for burial purposes, see generally Annot. 54 A.L.R.3rd 1027 (1973), we would be guilty of parochialism if we were to hold that tribal custom regarding that right is so abhorrent to the policy expressed in state law that it may not be given effect. Accordingly, we hold that recognition and enforcement of the tribal court order of March 20, 1985, would not contravene the public policy of this state. The judgment appealed from is reversed, and the case is remanded to the circuit court with directions to enter a judgment recognizing and giving effect to the tribal court order of March 20, 1985. FOSHEIM, C.J., MORGAN, J., and WUEST, Acting J., concur. HENDERSON, J., concurs in result. HENDERSON, Justice (concurring in result). Out of courtesy and respect to the tribal judge's order, and as a willingness to grant a privilege, and not as a matter of right, but out of deference and good will, on behalf of the highest Court of this state, I would apply the principle of judicial comity to the tribal judge's order of March 20, 1985, which awarded the custody of Charles Mexican's body to his wife, Mabel Mexican. I do not recognize that the principle of the comity of nations should be here applied;[1] and, hereby, I ascribe to the belief, in law, that there is a distinction between judicial comity and comity of nations. Comity is begotten from the womb of mutual respect and is not a child of obligation. We must live in mutual respect with our Indian brothers who serve on the trial courts of the various Indian reservations in South Dakota. They, in return, should likewise extend unto our courts reciprocating courtesy and respect. I am particularly touched, in this case, that Charles Mexican was a medicine man for the Indian people. I am deeply respectful of the First Amendment and the right of the Indian people to worship the Great Spirit. This worship anteceded on the North American Continent, by centuries, the religion of the white men who came to these shores. I am touched to the point of deepest compassion for the widow of Charles Mexican who desires that her husband be buried at a place of repose which she selects. The words of this tribal judge weigh heavily on me. His bench decision of March 19, 1985, reduced to writing and filed on March 20, 1985, gives us a deep insight into his consideration of tribal custom: Bear in mind that counsel for the two sisters, himself also a Native American, prevailed upon the tribal court judge to take judicial notice and consider tribal custom because he believed that it was the "controlling matter here." Certainly, out of courtesy, complaisance, and respect, the "white man's law," in the jargon of the tribal judge, should recognize the customs of the Indian people in burying their dead. It is true that this state has addressed the doctrine of comity as set forth in the 1916 and 1917 cases cited in the majority opinion. However, we were there concerned in the 1917 case with the recognition of a Wyoming mortgage; in the 1916 case, we were dealing with a sister state's law, that of Nebraska, and specifically a Bulk Sales Law of that state to which we applied comity. Sister state to sister state is one thing. Nation to nation is quite another. In this case, within a state, we are addressing comity in a more limited geographic and conceptual scope. Perhaps the Sioux Tribe was, in the vernacular of the tribal judge, historically recognized by its own people as the "Great Sioux Nation," as the tribal judge referred to it in the above-quoted proceeding. The "Sioux Nation," however, cannot be a nation within a nation. We have but one nation, indivisible, and it is called the United States of America.[2] Therefore, I am willing to give unto the judicial decision of this tribal judge all due deference and respect, as I have heretofore set forth, but not out of any recognition that the "Sioux Nation" is an independent nation within the United States of America. The Constitution of the United States of America established but *744 one nation. I wish to quote with approval language in Brown v. Babbitt Ford, Inc., 117 Ariz. 192, 197-98, 571 P.2d 689, 694-95 (1977), for the reason that it is aligned more closely with my thought on the general subject of states and Indian tribes when addressing comity and full faith and credit: "[T]he Navajo Tribe is sovereign only to the degree that the federal government allows it to be." Brown, 571 P.2d at 695 n. 7. See also, Rice v. Rehner, 463 U.S. 713, 719, 103 S. Ct. 3291, 3295, 77 L. Ed. 2d 961, 970 (1983), reh'g denied, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S. Ct. 209, 78 L. Ed. 2d 185 (1983), "[t]he sovereignty that the Indian tribes retain is of a unique and limited character. It exists only at the sufferance of Congress and is subject to complete defeasance." (Emphasis omitted) (quoting language in United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 323, 98 S. Ct. 1079, 1086, 55 L. Ed. 2d 303, 312-13 (1978)). [1] The 1894 United States Supreme Court case, cited extensively by the majority opinion, involves the nation of France; I find that decision to be inapplicable to the facts and time at hand. Moreover, it was stated that in the absence of statute or treaty, the comity of this country does not require that judgments of a foreign country be recognized as conclusive in this country, where such foreign country does not give like effect to our own judgments. Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U.S. 113, 16 S. Ct. 139, 40 L. Ed. 95 (1895). [2] See Brown v. Babbitt Ford, Inc., 117 Ariz. 192, 197-98, 571 P.2d 689, 694 n. 6 (1977). See also, 25 U.S.C.A. § 71, at 49 (1983), which provides: No Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power with whom the United States may contract by treaty; but no obligation of any treaty lawfully made and ratified with any such Indian nation or tribe prior to March 3, 1871, shall be hereby invalidated or impaired.