Opinion ID: 414382
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Relationship Between Occupancy and Usufructuary Rights

Text: 151 A fundamental aspect of Judge Doyle's reasoning regarding the Treaty of 1854 was his conclusion that the Treaties of 1837, 1842, and 1854 all evidence an intent to link occupancy with the exercise of usufructuary rights. Judge Doyle reasoned that because the 1854 treaty provided permanent homes for the LCO band on specified tracts, it withdrew any conditional right to establish such homes on non-reservation lands in the ceded territory. 12 The court concluded that if the right to establish homes on the whole of the territory was lost, the right to hunt and fish thereon was similarly relinquished. 152 It should be noted that the district judge did not suggest that usufructuary rights are always tied to occupancy. Such a conclusion would be clearly inconsistent with precedent such as United States v. Winans, 198 U.S. 371, 25 S.Ct. 662, 49 L.Ed. 1089 (1905); see Section IV(B)(1), supra. His conclusion was simply that the Treaty of 1854, read in pari materia with the earlier Treaties of 1837 and 1842, inextricably linked occupancy and usufructuary rights. 153 In so concluding, Judge Doyle relied on the statement by Chief Buffalo at the treaty negotiations that he now understood the whole of these non-reservation lands would go to the United States. The district court stated in LCO that this statement indicates the Indian understanding that they were relinquishing any general claims they might have had to lands outside their reservations. 464 F.Supp. at 1359. The statement made by Chief Buffalo does not compel this conclusion. There is evidence that the Indians misunderstood the Treaties of 1837 and 1842 when those treaties were signed. Rather than recognizing that they were relinquishing title to their territory, the Chippewas then believed that they were merely granting the United States a right to the timber and minerals that were the primary impetus for Governmental interest in the land. Subsequently, the Indians came to understand that they had relinquished title to the territories. In this context, the statement by Chief Buffalo at the time of the 1854 treaty negotiations would appear to be a reference only to the Minnesota land that was to be ceded to the United States pursuant to the 1854 treaty. His words indicate that he understood the Indians were giving up title to that land. There is no justification for construing Chief Buffalo's remarks either as relating to the territories previously ceded or as a general release of all Indian claims and rights in those territories. 154 In addition to his reliance on Chief Buffalo's remarks, Judge Doyle found those aspects of the 1854 treaty pertaining to the Minnesota cession relevant when read in pari materia with the Treaties of 1837 and 1842.