Opinion ID: 1232435
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Consideration of Statutes Comparable to the Uniform Act

Text: We must first determine whether tribes are sufficiently analogous to territories to fall within the legislature's general intent to broaden the definition of state by including territories. Indian tribes are quasi-sovereign entities with sui generis status as domestic, dependent nations under federal law. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1, 16-17, 8 L.Ed. 25 (1831). Indian tribes are not foreign nations, as Tracy would have us believe, and thus do not come within the prohibition against foreign countries being deemed territories. Id.; see Eidman v. Martinez, 184 U.S. 578, 591, 22 S.Ct. 515, 520, 46 L.Ed. 697 (1902) (term territory in ordinary acts of Congress does not include foreign states). Similarly, Indian tribes are not organized territories whose powers are delegated by Congress and therefore exist as agencies of the federal government. Rather, Indian tribes exercise powers of self-government as an aspect of their inherent sovereignty. United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 319-23, 98 S.Ct. 1079, 1084-86, 55 L.Ed.2d 303 (1978). In this respect, the Navajo Nation exercises its judicial power as would a state. Id. at 321-22, 98 S.Ct. at 1085 (tribe is separate sovereign from federal government for purposes of double jeopardy; in prosecuting tribal member for crime, tribe was not exercising federally delegated power, like territory, but sovereign power, like state). Clearly, then, Indian tribes do not fit within the narrow definition of an organized territory. Instead, they occupy a unique status within our federal system. The tribes are similar to states in terms of their judicial jurisdiction and power of self-government over matters occurring within their territorial boundaries. See Raymond v. Raymond, 83 F. 721, 724 (8th Cir.1897). However, in exercising their powers of self-government, Indian tribes are still subject to the overriding plenary authority of Congress. Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 56, 98 S.Ct. 1670, 1676, 56 L.Ed.2d 106 (1978). In this latter respect, Indian tribes are analogous to the territories of the United States, which are also subject to Congress's plenary power. See Inter-Island Steam Nav. Co. v. Hawaii, 305 U.S. 306, 314, 59 S.Ct. 202, 206, 83 L.Ed. 189 (1938) (Congress has full and complete legislative authority over territories). The political status of Indian tribes has been analogized to that of other quasi-sovereign entities under the protection of the United States, such as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. See generally Comment, Conflicts Between State and Tribal Law: The Application of Full Faith and Credit Legislation to Indian Tribes, 1981 ARIZ. ST.L.J. 801, 808; Clinton, Tribal Courts and the Federal Union, 26 WILLAMETTE L.REV. 841, 858 (1990). In any case, Indian tribes, like Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, have often been regarded as territories for purposes of various statutory enactments. In United States ex rel. Mackey v. Coxe, for example, the United States Supreme Court held that the Cherokee Nation is a territory for purposes of a federal statute requiring recognition of administrators appointed from the territories. 59 U.S. (18 How.) 100, 15 L.Ed. 299 (1855). In holding that letters of administration issued by the Cherokee Nation should be given full faith and credit in a District of Columbia court, the Court stated: In some respects [the Cherokee people] bear the same relation to the federal government as a territory did in its second grade of government, under the ordinance of 1787. Such a territory passed its own laws, subject to the approval of congress, and its inhabitants were subject to the constitution and acts of congress. The principal difference consists in the fact that the Cherokees enact their own laws [subject to some federal restriction], appoint their own officers and pay their own expenses. This, however, is no reason why the laws and proceedings of the Cherokee territory, so far as relates to rights claimed under them, should not be placed upon the same footing as other territories in the Union. It is not a foreign, but a domestic territory,  a territory which originated under our constitution and laws.... In no respect can it be considered a foreign State or territory, as it is within our jurisdiction and subject to our laws. Id. at 103-04 (emphasis added). [9] Similarly, various lower federal courts and state courts have deemed Indian tribes to be states or territories within the meaning of the statutes under consideration. See, e.g., In re Larch, 872 F.2d 66 (4th Cir.1989) (Cherokee tribe is a state for purposes of the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1738); Martinez v. Superior Court, 152 Ariz. 300, 731 P.2d 1244 (Ct.App. 1987) (Indian reservations are territories or possessions of the United States within the meaning of Arizona's Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, A.R.S. §§ 8-401 through 8-424); Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians v. State, 311 Minn. 241, 248 N.W.2d 722 (1976) (Red Lake tribe was a state or territory for purposes of a Minnesota motor vehicle statute that was premised on policy to recognize the validity of automobile registration licenses issued by other jurisdictions); Whitsett v. Forehand, 79 N.C. 230, 232 (1878) (Cherokee Nation is a territory for purposes of state statute governing admission of deed to probate and registration). A majority of courts has deemed Indian tribes to be territories for purposes of the federal statute extending the application of the full faith and credit clause to the territories and possessions of the United States, 28 U.S.C. § 1738. See, e.g., Sheppard v. Sheppard, 104 Idaho 1, 655 P.2d 895 (1982); Jim v. CIT Fin. Servs. Corp., 87 N.M. 362, 533 P.2d 751 (1975); In re Buehl, 87 Wash.2d 649, 555 P.2d 1334 (1976); see also Cornells v. Shannon, 63 F. 305, 306 (8th Cir.1894); Standley v. Roberts, 59 F. 836, 845 (8th Cir.1894); Mehlin v. Ice, 56 F. 12, 19 (8th Cir.1893) (recognizing Indian tribes as territories under an earlier version of the full faith and credit statute); Santa Clara Pueblo, 436 U.S. at 65 n. 21, 98 S.Ct. at 1681 n. 21 (Judgments of tribal courts, as to matters properly within their jurisdiction, have been regarded in some circumstances as entitled to full faith and credit in other courts.) (citing Mackey, 59 U.S. (18 How.) 100; and Standley, 59 F. at 845). In Brown v. Babbitt Ford, Inc., our court of appeals took the opposite approach, declining to accord full faith and credit to a Navajo tribal statute governing automobile repossessions on the reservation. 117 Ariz. 192, 571 P.2d 689 (Ct.App. 1977). The court rejected the analysis of Americana of Puerto Rico that the term territory in 28 U.S.C. § 1738 may be construed to encompass entities other than organized territories. Id. at 196, 571 P.2d at 693. The court distinguished Mackey, pointing out that it dealt with the definition of territory in a different statute. Id. Instead, the court based its opinion on an 1883 district court case, Ex Parte Morgan, 20 F. 298 (D.C.Ark. 1883), which held that territory refers only to organized territories that are destined for statehood, and that Indian tribes, as sovereigns predating the constitution, cannot be considered territories. Brown, 117 Ariz. at 196-97, 571 P.2d at 693-94. We do not consider whether the court of appeals correctly decided that Indian tribes are not territories for purposes of the full faith and credit statute, as that issue is not now before us. [10] However, we disagree with the court's statement that Indian reservations have never been considered as a `territory' within the meaning of the laws of the United States, but simply they are the home of the Indians. Id. at 197, 571 P.2d at 694. This statement is contrary to the United States Supreme Court's decision in Mackey, as well as the many decisions of lower federal courts and state courts cited above holding that Indian tribes may be considered territories for purposes of certain statutes. In addition, the court seems to have overlooked the many federal cases holding that the term territory may be applied to quasi-sovereign entities that are not organized territories destined for statehood. Indian tribes possess a unique political status; however, tribal governments are comparable to states and territories in many ways, and jurisdictionally, Indian reservations are a great deal more than the home of the Indians. The case law demonstrates that Indian tribes may be considered territories within the meaning of certain statutes. The proper approach is to analyze each statute, in terms of its purpose and policy, to determine whether Indian tribes may be regarded as territories within the statute's intent, as another panel of our court of appeals did in Martinez with regard to Arizona's version of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act. 152 Ariz. at 303, 305, 731 P.2d at 1247, 1249. Again we note that California, using this analysis, has recently held that the term territory in the Uniform Act we are considering includes the Navajo Nation. Superior Court (Jans), 274 Cal. Rptr. 586.