Opinion ID: 787593
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: 6 This case concerns the legality of the acquisition by the State of New York of Niagara River islands (the Islands) in 1815 from the Seneca Nation of Indians 1 for $1,000 and an annuity of $500.00 to be paid ... each year forever hereafter. 2 The Senecas and Intervenor-Appellant the United States, as trustee for the Senecas, sued to invalidate the transaction on the ground that it violated the Non-Intercourse Act, which bars conveyances by Indians to non-Indians unless made or ratified by Congress. See 25 U.S.C. § 177 (2001). 3 It is undisputed that the sale did not receive Congressional approval. What is disputed is whether New York already had title to the Islands when it ostensibly purchased them from the Senecas. If it did, the transaction did not violate the Non-Intercourse Act. 7 The District Court for the Western District of New York (Arcara, J. ), on cross-motions for summary judgment and largely on stipulated facts, concluded that, for two reasons, New York had acquired fee title to the Islands long before the 1815 Transaction. See Seneca II, 206 F.Supp.2d at 453. First, the Court held that the Senecas' aboriginal title 4 had been extinguished either by the 1764 Treaties of Peace between Great Britain and the Senecas, which transferred title from the Senecas to the British Crown, or by the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, which extinguished the Senecas' title and passed it to New York. Second, it held that the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua between the United States and the Senecas did not transfer the Islands back to the Senecas. See id. at 542. For many of the reasons expressed in the District Court's thoughtful and comprehensive opinion, we affirm.