Court Opinion

ID: 9429926
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:28:19.569107+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:22.219307
License: Public Domain

*255Justice Stevens,
with whom The Chief Justice, Justice White, and Justice Rehnquist join,
dissenting in No. 83-1065.
In 1790, the President of the United States notified Corn-planter, the Chief of the Senecas, that federal law would securely protect Seneca lands from acquisition by any State or person:
“If . . . you have any just cause of complaint against [a purchaser] and can make satisfactory proof thereof, the federal courts will be open to you for redress, as to all other persons.” 4 American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. 1, p. 142 (1832).1
The elders of the Oneida Indian Nation received comparable notice of their capacity to maintain the federal claim that is at issue in this litigation.2 They made no attempt to assert the claim, and their successors in interest waited 175 years before bringing suit to avoid a 1795 conveyance that the Tribe freely made, for a valuable consideration. The absence of any evidence of deception, concealment, or interference with the Tribe’s right to assert a claim, together with the societal interests that always underlie statutes of repose — particu*256larly when title to real property is at stake — convince me that this claim is barred by the extraordinary passage of time. It is worthy of emphasis that this claim arose when George Washington was the President of the United States.
The Court refuses to apply any time bar to this claim, believing that to do so would be inconsistent with federal Indian policy. This Court, however, has always applied the equitable doctrine of laches when Indians or others have sought, in equity, to set aside conveyances made under a statutory or common-law incapacity to convey. Although this action is brought at law, in ejectment, there are sound reasons for recognizing that it is barred by similar principles.
In reaching a contrary conclusion, the Court relies on the legislative histories of a series of recent enactments. In my view, however, the Oneida were barred from avoiding their 1795 conveyance long before 1952, when Congress enacted the first statute that the Court relies on today. Neither that statute, nor any subsequent federal legislation, revived the Oneida’s dormant claim.
I
Today’s decision is an unprecedented departure from the wisdom of the common law:
“The best interests of society require that causes of action should not be deferred an unreasonable time. This remark is peculiarly applicable to land titles. Nothing so much retards the growth and prosperity of a country as insecurity of titles to real estate. Labor is paralysed where the enjoyment of its fruits is uncertain; and litigation without limit produces ruinous consequences to individuals.” Lewis v. Marshall, 5 Pet. 470, 477-478 (1831).
Of course, as the Court notes, there “is no federal statute of limitations governing federal common-law actions by Indians to enforce property rights.” Ante, at 240. However, “where Congress has not spoken but left matters for judicial determination within the general framework of familiar legal *257principles,” Holmberg v. Armbrecht, 327 U. S. 392, 395 (1946), the settled practice has been to adopt the state law of limitations as federal law.
The Court has recognized that “State legislatures do not devise their limitations periods with national interests in mind, and it is the duty of the federal courts to assure that the importation of state law will not frustrate or interfere with the implementation of national policies.” Occidental Life Ins. Co. v. EEOC, 432 U. S. 355, 367 (1977). The Court, for example, has refused to apply state laws of limitations when a more analogous federal statute of limitations better reflects the appropriate balance between the enforcement of federal substantive policies and the historic principles of repose,3 or when a unique federal interest in the subject matter or a paramount interest in national uniformity require the fashioning of a federal time bar in order to avoid serious conflict with federal policies or functions.4 In applying these principles, however, the Court has always presumed that some principle of limitation applies to federal causes of action.6 Thus, in Occidental Life Ins. Co., the Court concluded that Congress had intended no rigid time *258limit for EEOC enforcement actions, but the Court also recognized that federal courts have adequate power to bar an action if the defendant was “significantly handicapped in making his defense because of an inordinate EEOC delay.” Id., at 373.
Before 1966 there was no federal statute of limitations that even arguably could have supplanted a state limitation. Even the longest possibly applicable state statute of limitations would surely have barred this cause of action — which arose in 1795 — many years before 1966.6 Moreover, “[a] state statute cannot be considered ‘inconsistent’ with federal law merely because the statute causes the plaintiff to lose the litigation.” Robertson v. Wegmann, 436 U. S. 584, 593 (1978). Nor is the rejection of a generally applicable state law inappropriate merely because one party is an Indian tribe and the subject matter of the litigation involves tribal property. Wilson v. Omaha Indian Tribe, 442 U. S. 653, 673-674 (1979). Thus, a routine application of our practice in dealing with limitations questions would lead to the conclusion that this claim is barred by the lapse of time.
Nevertheless, there are unique considerations in cases involving Indian claims that warrant a departure from the ordinary practice. Indians have long occupied a protected status in our law, and in the 19th century they were often characterized as wards of the State.7 At common law, conveyances of *259persons subject to similar disabilities were void. In practice, however, the common-law courts modified the wooden rules ordinarily applied to real property claims in actions at law in order to protect the ward, as far as possible, from manipulation, while at the same time avoiding the obvious inequity involved in the setting aside, at a distant date, of conveyances that had been freely made, for valuable consideration.
For example, the statute of limitations applicable to actions seeking to gain recovery of the real estate conveyed under such disabilities did not begin to run against a ward until his unique disabilities had been overcome.8 Thus, to be faithful to these common-law principles, the application of a state statute of limitations in the context of ancient Indian claims would require flexible consideration of the development of the particular tribe’s capacity to govern its own affairs.
*260Moreover, the common law developed prescription doctrines that terminated the vendor’s power to avoid a void conveyance in an action in ejectment. These doctrines could deny the ward, or those claiming under him, a cause of action in ejectment even before the running of the applicable statute of limitations. Although these doctrines were often based on theories of implied ratification, they were most often enforced in circumstances indicating undue or prejudicial delay.9
*261I believe that the equitable doctrine of laches,10 with its focus on legitimate reliance and inexcusable delay, best reflects the limitation principles that would have governed this ancient claim at common law — without requiring a historian’s inquiry into the archaic limitation doctrines that would have governed the claims at any specific time in the preceding two centuries. Of course, the application of a traditional equita*262ble defense in an action at law is something of a novelty. But this novel development in litigation involving Indian claims arose in order to benefit a special class of litigants, and it remains true that an equitable defense to the instant claim is less harsh than a straightforward application of the limitations rule dictated by our usual practice. At least equal to the maxim that equity follows the law is the truth that common-law real property principles were often tempered by equitable considerations — as the rules limiting a ward’s power to avoid an unlawful conveyance demonstrate.11
As the Court recognizes, the instant action arises under the federal common law, not under any congressional enactment, and in this context the Court would not risk frustrating the will of the Legislature12 by applying this familiar doctrine of equity. The merger of law and equity in one federal court13 is, of course, primarily procedural. Considering the hybrid nature of these claims and the evolving character of the common law, however, I believe that the application of laches as a limitation principle governing ancient Indian claims will promote uniformity of result in law and at equity, maintain the proper measure of flexibility to protect the legitimate interests of the tribes, while at the same time honoring the historic wisdom in the value of repose.
*263HH
Three decisions of this Court illustrate the application of the doctrine of laches to actions seeking to set aside conveyances made in violation of federal law. In Ewert v. Bluejacket, 259 U. S. 129 (1922), the Court stated that “the equitable doctrine of laches .. . cannot properly have application to give vitality to a void deed and to bar the rights of Indian wards in lands subject to statutory restrictions.” Id., at 138. A close examination of the Ewert case, however, indicates that the Court applied the doctrine of laches, but rejected relief for the defendant in the circumstances of the case.
In 1909, Ewert, a federal Indian agent, obtained a conveyance of allotted lands from the heirs of an Indian in violation of a statutory prohibition against federal officers engaging in trade with Indians. In 1916, the heirs brought an action, in equity, seeking to set aside the conveyance. The Court of Appeals held that the heirs had the burden of disproving laches because they had brought their action outside the applicable state statute of limitations, and concluded that they had not satisfied this burden. “The adult plaintiffs were free to make conveyance of this land, even though they were Indians, and [since] their tribal relations had been severed, [they] were chargeable with the same diligence as white people in discovering and pursuing their legal remedies. [Felix v. Patrick, 145 U. S. 317 (1892)]; [Schrimpscher v. Stockton, 183 U. S. 290 (1902)].” Bluejacket v. Ewert, 265 F. 823, 829 (CA8 1920).
On appeal, this Court held that the plaintiffs’ action was not barred by the doctrine of laches, noting that “[Ewert] still holds the legal title to the land.” 259 U. S., at 138. The Court principally relied on the doctrine that “an [unlawful] act. . . is void and confers no right upon the wrongdoer.” Waskey v. Hammer, 223 U. S. 85, 94 (1912) (emphasis added). On the facts of Ewert, the Court found that the *264plaintiffs’ burden of disproving laches was easily met, but the Court might well have reached a different conclusion in Ewert if the conveyance had not been so recent, if the defendant had not been as blameworthy, or if the character of the property had changed dramatically in the interim.
My interpretation of Ewert is illustrated by this Court’s prior decision in Felix v. Patrick, 145 U. S. 317 (1892). In that case, the Court applied the doctrine of laches to bar an action by the heirs of an Indian to establish a constructive trust over lands that had been conveyed by her in violation of a federal statutory restriction. The action to set aside the unlawful transfer was brought 28 years after the transaction, and in the intervening time, “[t]hat which was wild land thirty years ago is now intersected by streets, subdivided into blocks and lots, and largely occupied by persons who have bought upon the strength of Patrick’s title, and have erected buildings of a permanent character upon their pur-' chases.” Id., at 334.
The Court recognized that the long passage of time, the change in the character of the property, the transfer of some of the property to third parties, the absence of any obvious inadequacy in the consideration received in the original transaction, and Patrick’s lack of direct participation in the original transfer all supported a charge of laches against the plaintiffs. In addition, the Court noted that “[t]he decree prayed for in this case, if granted, would offer a distinct encouragement to the purchase of similar claims, which doubtless exist in abundance through the Western Territories, . . . and would result in the unsettlement of large numbers of titles upon which the owners have rested in assured security for nearly a generation.” Id., at 335.
Nor is Felix the only application of these principles in a similar context. In Wetzel v. Minnesota Railway Transfer Co., 169 U. S. 237 (1898), the children of a deceased Mexican War veteran received a warrant for 160 acres of land under a federal statute that prohibited any alienation of the property without the approval of the proper state probate'court. The *265children’s guardian sold their share in the warrant without seeking the approval of the proper court. Forty-four years after the conveyance, the children brought an action, in equity, seeking to establish a constructive trust over the 160 acres — now located in a well-developed area of St. Paul, Minnesota. The Court held that the action was barred by laches relying on Felix v. Patrick, and noting that the property had been completely developed and had greatly increased in value. The Court also observed that title had passed to persons who were no doubt ignorant of the defect in title.
The Court also noted the relevance of the length of the delay:
“While the fact that the complainants were ignorant of the defect in the title and were without means to prosecute an investigation into the facts may properly be considered by the court, it does not mitigate the hardship to the defendants of unsettling these titles. If the complainant may put forward these excuses for delay after thirty years, there is no reason why they may not allege the same as an excuse after a lapse of sixty. The truth is, there must be some limit of time unthin which these excuses shall be available, or titles might forever be insecure. The interests of public order and tranquillity demand that parties shall acquaint themselves with their rights within a reasonable time, and although this time may be extended by their actual ignorance, or want of means, it is by no means illimitable.” 169 U. S., at 241 (emphasis added).
Ewert, Felix, and Wetzel establish beyond doubt that it is quite consistent with federal policy to apply the doctrine of laches to limit a vendor’s power to avoid a conveyance violating a federal restriction on alienation.
h — 1 J — Í
As in Felix and Wetzel, the land conveyed by the Oneida in 1795 has been converted from wilderness to cities, towns, *266villages, and farms. The 872 acres of land involved in the instant action include the principal transportation arteries in the region, and other vital public facilities owned by the Counties of Oneida and Madison.14 The counties and the private property owners affected by the litigation, without proven notice of the defect in title caused by the State of New York’s failure to comply with the federal statute, have erected costly improvements on the property in reliance on the validity of their title. Even if the counties are considered for some purposes to be the alter ego of the State, it is surely a fiction to argue that they are in any way responsible for their predicament,15 or that their taxpayers, who will ultimately bear the burden of the judgment in this case, are in any way culpable for New York’s violation of federal law in 1795.
As the Court holds, ante, at 233-236, there was no legal impediment to the maintenance of this cause of action at any time after 1795. Although the mere passage of time, without other inequity in the prosecution of the claim, does not support a finding of laches in the ordinary case, e. g., Holmberg v. Armbrecht, 327 U. S., at 396, in cases of gross laches the passage of a great length of time creates a nearly insurmountable burden on the plaintiffs to disprove the obvious defense of laches.16 As Justice Story noted for the Court in Prevost v. Gratz, 6 Wheat. 481, 504-505 (1821):
*267“[G]eneral presumptions are raised by the law upon subjects of which there is no record or written instrument, not because there are the means of belief or disbelief, but because mankind, judging of matters of antiquity from the infirmity and necessity of their situation must, for the preservation of their property and rights, have recourse to some general principle, to take the place of individual and specific belief, which can hold only as to matters within our own time, upon which a conclusion can be formed from particular and individual knowledge.” Id., at 504-505.
Given their burden of explaining nearly two centuries of delay in the prosecution of this claim, and considering the *268legitimate reliance interests of the counties and the other property owners whose title is derived from the 1795 conveyance, the Oneida have not adequately justified their delay.
Of course, the traditional rule was “that ‘the conduct of Indians is not to be measured by the same standard which we apply to the conduct of other people. ’ But their very analogy to persons under guardianship suggests a limitation to their pupilage, since the utmost term of disability of an infant is but 21 years, and it is very rare that, the relations of guardian and ward under any circumstances, even those of lunacy, are maintained for a longer period than this.” Felix v. Patrick, 145 U. S., at 330-331 (quoting The Kansas Indians, 5 Wall. 737, 758 (1867)). In this case, the testimony at trial indicates that the Oneida people have independently held land derived from tribal allotments at least since the Dawes Act of 1887,17 and probably earlier in the State of New York.18 They have received formal schooling at least since 1796 in New York, and have gradually become literate in the English language.19 They have developed a sophisticated system of tribal government,20 and at various times in the past 175 years, have petitioned the Government for the redress of grievances, or sent commissions to confer with their brethren.21
*269In all the years after the 1795 conveyance — until the years leading up to this litigation — the Oneida made few efforts to raise this specific grievance against the State of New York and the landowners holding under the State’s title.22 Claims to lands in New York most often were only made in connection with generalized grievances concerning the Tribe’s treatment at the hands of the United States Government.23 Although the Oneida plainly knew or should have known that they had conveyed their lands to the State of New York in violation of federal law, and that they might have some cause for redress, they inexplicably delayed filing a lawsuit on their claim until 175 years after the conveyance was made. Finally, “[t]here is no evidence that any of the plaintiffs or their predecessors ever refused or returned any of the payments received for the purported sale of land pursuant to the Treaty of 1795.”24
*270The Oneida have not met their formidable burden of disproving unjustifiable delay to the prejudice of others. In my opinion their cause of action is barred by the doctrine of laches. The remedy for the ancient wrong established at trial should be provided by Congress, not by judges seeking to rewrite history at this late date.
> 1 — I
The Oneida argue that the legislative histories of a series of congressional enactments, beginning in 1952, persuasively establish that their claims have never been barred. This argument has serious flaws, not the least being that whatever Congress said in 1952 or 1966 is extremely weak authority for the status of the common law in 1795, or for a considerable period thereafter. Believing, as I do, that the Oneida’s claim was barred by the doctrine of laches or by a related common-law doctrine25 long before 1952, it is quite clear that the statutes discussed by the Court did not revive it.
First, and most obviously, the principal statute relied on by the Court, by its very terms, only applies to claims brought by the United States on behalf of Indians or Indian tribes.26 This *271action, of course, is brought by an Indian Tribe on its own behalf.
Secondly, neither the statutes themselves,27 nor the legislative discussions that preceded their enactment,28 provide
*272any indication of an intent to revive already barred claims.29 Quite the contrary, they merely indicate a congressional intent to preserve the status quo with respect to ancient claims that might already be barred, and to establish a procedure for making sure that the claims would not survive eternally.
Congress, for the most part, has been quite clear when it decides to revive causes of action that might be barred or to deny any time limitation for a private cause of action.30 When the will of Congress is as lacking in clarity as it is in this case, we should be wary of attributing to it the intention of reviving ancient claims that will upset long-settled expectations. In divining the intent of Congress concerning the applicable limitation on a cause of action, Chief Justice Marshall once noted that “it deserves some consideration,” that in the absence of an applicable limitation, “those actions might, in many cases, be brought at any distance of time. This would be utterly.repugnant to the genius of our laws.” Adams v. Woods, 2 Cranch 336, 341 (1805). The Court *273today prefers to impute to Congress the intent of rewarding those whom “Abraham Lincoln once described with scorn [as sitting] in the basements of courthouses combing property records to upset established titles.” Arizona v. California, 460 U. S. 605, 620 (1983). The more appropriate presumption in this case is that Congress intended to honor legitimate expectations in the ownership of real property and not to disturb them.
V
The Framers recognized that no one ought be condemned for his forefathers’ misdeeds — even when the crime is a most grave offense against the Republic.31 The Court today ignores that principle in fashioning a common-law remedy for the Oneida Nation that allows the Tribe to avoid its 1795 conveyance 175 years after it was made. This decision upsets long-settled expectations in the ownership of real property in the Counties of Oneida and Madison, New York, and the disruption it is sure to cause will confirm the common-law wisdom that ancient claims are best left in repose. The Court, no doubt, believes that it is undoing a grave historical injustice, but in doing so it has caused another, which only Congress may now rectify.
I respectfully dissent.

 Before 1875 when “Congress conferred upon the lower federal courts, for but the second time in their nearly century-old history, general federal-question jurisdiction,” Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U. S. 452, 464 (1974); Judiciary Act of March 3, 1875, 18 Stat. 470, an Indian tribe could only raise its federal land claims in this Court by appealing a state-court judgment, Judiciary Act of 1789, ch. 20, § 25, 1 Stat. 85. Until Congress made Indians United States citizens in the Act of June 2, 1924, ch. 233, 43 Stat. 253, they were not generally considered “citizens” for the purposes of diversity jurisdiction in the lower federal courts. Nor were the tribes “foreign states” entitled to apply for original jurisdiction in this Court. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 5 Pet. 1 (1831).

 During the negotiations leading to the 1795 treaty with New York, a federal agent informed the Tribe that no local treaty could validly transfer their interest in lands without the presence of a United States Indian Commissioner, Record Doc. No. 37, p. 122.

 DelCostello v. Teamsters, 462 U. S. 151 (1983); cf. McAllister v. Magnolia Petroleum Co., 357 U. S. 221 (1958).

 Holmberg v. Armbrecht, 327 U. S. 392, 395 (1946) (“We have the duty of federal courts, sitting as national courts throughout the country, to apply their own principles in enforcing an equitable right created by Congress”).

 In cases arising in admiralty, the Court has traditionally applied the equitable doctrine of laches. See, e. g., Gutierrez v. Waterman S.S. Corp., 373 U. S. 206, 215 (1963). In territorial disputes arising under our original jurisdiction we have applied the doctrine of acquiescence which confirms the legal validity of a boundary line accepted for a considerable length of time by all parties as the actual boundary between two States, notwithstanding any irregularities in its legal origin. See California v. Nevada, 447 U. S. 125, 130-132 (1980); Ohio v. Kentucky, 410 U. S. 641, 650-651 (1973). Under the lost grant doctrine, “lapse of time,” under carefully limited circumstances, “may cure the neglect or failure to secure the proper muniments of title,” even against the United States. United States v. Fullard-Leo, 331 U. S. 256, 270 (1947).

 While the current New York period of limitations applicable to actions “to recover real property or its possession” presently is 10 years, N. Y. Civ. Prac. Law. § 212 (McKinney 1972), the period in 1795 was 50 years, 1788 N. Y. Laws, ch. 43, p. 685.

 See Felix v. Patrick, 145 U. S. 317, 330 (1892) (“Whatever may have been the injustice visited upon this unfortunate race of people by their white neighbors, this court has repeatedly held them to be the wards of the nation, entitled to a special protection in its courts, and as persons ‘in a state of pupilage'”); Chouteau v. Molony, 16 How. 203, 237-238 (1854) (Under Spanish law, “Indians, although of age, continue to enjoy the rights of minors, to avoid contracts or other sales of their property — particularly *259real — made without authority of the judiciary or the intervention of their legal protectors. Indians are considered as persons under legal disability . . .”) (citation omitted); Georgia & the Treaty of Indian Spring, 2 Op. Atty. Gen. 110, 133 (1828) (Although under federal law Indians have a limited capacity to contract for the sale of their lands, “[a] limited capacity to contract is no anomaly in the law. Infants have this limited capacity to contract . . . ; beyond this limit, their contracts are void. . . . Yet it was never imagined that, because their independence or competency was not absolute and universal, but limited, that therefore their contracts within the sphere of their competency were to be differently construed from those of other persons”); see also ante, at 241, n. 14 (opinion of thé Court); United States v. Kagama, 118 U. S. 375, 383-384 (1886); Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 5 Pet., at 17.

 See 2 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *291 — *292; 2 J. Kent, Commentaries on American Law 248-249 (8th ed. 1854); 5 G. Thompson, Real Property §2556 (1979); 6 G. Thompson, Real Property §2947 (1962); cf. Schrimpscher v. Stockton, 183 U. S. 290, 296 (1902) (“Conceding, but without deciding, that so long as Indians maintain their tribal relations they are not chargeable with laches or failure to assert their claims within the time prescribed by statutes, . . . they would lose this immunity when their relations with their tribe were dissolved by accepting allotments of lands in severalty”).

 In Brazee v. Schofield, 124 U. S. 495 (1888), the Court rejected the claim in ejectment of a person seeking to avoid a conveyance made by a minor during his infancy:
“For eleven years after [the minor] became of age he made no objection to the proceedings, or by any act indicated his intention to disaffirm the sale or deed . . . ; and [only then] he gave to the grantors of the [plaintiffs] a deed of his interest in the . . . claim. In the meantime, the property had greatly increased in value by the improvements put upon it by the purchaser'. . . . Under these circumstances,. . . the long acquiescence of the minor, after he became of age, in the proceedings had for the sale of his property, was equivalent to an express affirmance of them, even were they affected with such irregularities as, upon his prompt application after becoming of age, would have justified the court in setting them aside.” Id.,- at 504-505.
See also Irvine v. Irvine, 9 Wall. 617 (1870); Tucker v. Moreland, 10 Pet. 58 (1836). See generally 1 L. Jones, Real Property §§24-26 (1896); 1 J. Kent, Commentaries on American Law 252-255 (8th ed. 1854); 1 R. Powell, Real Property ¶ 125, p. 483 (1984); 6 G. Thompson, Real Property §2946, pp. 30-31; §2951, pp. 63-64 (1962); cf. 2 J. Pomeroy, Equity Jurisprudence § 965 (1886).
Similar doctrines have been applied in the Indian area. For example, in United States v. Santa Fe Pacific R. Co., 314 U. S. 339 (1941), the Court held that the acceptance by the Walapais Indians of reservation lands “must be regarded in law as the equivalent of a release of any tribal rights which they may have had in lands outside the reservation. They were in substance acquiescing in the penetration of white settlers on condition that permanent provision was made for them too. In view of this historical setting, it cannot now be fairly implied that tribal rights of the Walapais in lands outside the reservation were preserved. . . . Hence, acquiescence in that arrangement must be deemed to have been a relinquishment of tribal rights in lands outside the reservation and notoriously claimed by others.” Id., at 358. See also Mitchel v. United States, 9 Pet. 711, 746 (1835) *261(“Indian possession or occupation was considered with reference to their habits and modes of life; their hunting-grounds were as much in their actual possession as the cleared fields of the whites; and their rights to its exclusive enjoyment in their own way, and for their own purposes were as much respected, until they abandoned them, made a cession to the government, or an authorized sale to individuals. In either case their right became extinct. . .”) (emphasis added); Williams v. City of Chicago, 242 U. S. 434, 437 (1917) (“If in any view [the Pottawatomie Nation] ever held possession of the property here in question, we know historically that this was abandoned long ago and that for more than a half century [the tribe] has not even pretended to occupy either the shores or waters of Lake Michigan within the confines of Illinois”) (emphasis added). Cf. H. R. Doc. No. 1590, 63d Cong., 3d Sess., 11 (1915) (The Oneida sold most of their lands to the State, and divided the remaining lands in severalty; “as a tribe these Indians are known no more in that State”).

 In their petition for certiorari, the counties raised the general question of what federal time bar should apply to this litigation in asking the Court to decide “Whether, in any case, respondent’s claim is barred because it was not brought until 175 years after the conveyance.” Pet. for Cert, of Counties, Question 2. The possibility that laches might apply to the claim is fairly included within that question. The laches question was fully litigated in the trial court — the testimony of four of the six witnesses appearing on the Oneida’s behalf in the liability phase of the trial was presented solely to avoid the obvious defense of laches. Record Doe. No. 37, pp. 196-276. The Court of Appeals’ rejection of delay-based defenses, 719 F. 2d 525, 538 (CA2 1983), will remain the law of the Circuit until it is reversed by this Court, and will no doubt apply to the numerous Indian claims pending in the lower courts, see cases cited in Brief for Respondent Counties in No. 83-1240, p. 10, and n. 8. Discussion of the applicability of equitable limitations or laches appears in the briefs, Reply Brief for Petitioner Counties in No. 83-1065, pp. 19-20; Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 33-40; Brief for City of Escondido et al. as Amici Curiae 21-29, and occurred at oral argument. Tr. of Oral Arg. 61-65.

 In fact, the idea that the State should protect persons suffering from disabilities who had no other lawful protector probably arose at equity where the Chancery Courts exercised the prerogatives of the King as parens patriae, 3 J. Story, Equity Jurisprudence § 1748 (14th ed. 1918), and applied theories of constructive fraud, 2 J. Pomeroy, Equity Jurisprudence § 943 (1886).

 In deference to the doctrine of the separation of powers, the Court has been circumspect in adopting principles of equity in the context of enforcing federal statutes. See generally Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo, 456 U. S. 305 (1982); TV A v. Hill, 437 U. S. 153 (1978); Hecht Co. v. Bowles, 321 U. S. 321 (1944); Plater, Statutory Violations and Equitable Discretion, 70 Calif. L. Rev. 524, 592 (1982).

 E. g., Fed. Rules Civ. Proc. 1, 2.

 Partial Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (Oct. 5, 1981), App. 148a-153a.

 Id., at 151a (“The counties of Madison and Oneida, New York, were not in existence in 1795 at the time of the transaction complained of in this action. No evidence has been presented to show that the Counties . . . acted other than in good faith when they came into possession of the County Land in the claim area subsequent to 1795 and prior to January 1, 1968”).

 See, e. g., French Republic v. Saratoga Vichy Spring Co., 191 U. S. 427, 436-437 (1903) (25-year delay); Clarke v. Boorman’s Executors, 18 Wall. 493, 509 (1874) (40-year delay); Badger v. Badger, 2 Wall. 87, 94-95 (1864) (28-year delay); Wagner v. Baird, 7 How. 234, 258-259 (1849) *267(46-year delay); Bowman v. Wathen, 1 How. 189,195 (1843) (38-year delay); Piatt v. Vattier, 9 Pet. 405, 416-417 (1835) (30-year delay); see also 3 J. Story, Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence 553 (1918) (“Courts of Equity act sometimes by analogy to the law, and sometimes act upon their own inherent doctrine of discouraging for the peace of society antiquated demands by refusing to interfere where there has been gross laches in prosecuting rights, or long and unreasonable acquiescence in the assertion of adverse rights”); cf. Saratoga Vichy Spring Co. v. Lehman, 625 F. 2d 1037, 1041 (CA2 1980) (69-year delay); Anheuser-Busch, Inc. v. Du Bois Brewing Co., 175 F. 2d 370, 374 (CA3 1949) (in hypothetical lapse of 100 years “highly dubious” whether plaintiff could prevail), cert. denied, 339 U. S. 934 (1950).
In deciding territorial disputes arising under this Court’s original jurisdiction, similar principles have frequently been applied:
“No human transactions are unaffected by time. Its influence is seen on all things subject to change. And this is peculiarly the case in regard to matters which rest in memory, and which consequently fade with the lapse of time, and fall with the lives of individuals. For the security of rights, whether of states or individuals, long possession under a claim of title is protected.” Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 4 How. 591, 639 (1846).
See also California v. Nevada, 447 U. S., at 132 (“If Nevada felt that those lines were inaccurate and operated to deprive it of territory lawfully within its jurisdiction the time to object was when the surveys were conducted, not a century later”); Ohio v. Kentucky, 410 U. S., at 648-651; Indiana v. Kentucky, 136 U. S. 479, 509-510 (1890).

 General Allotment Act, 24 Stat. 388.

 Record Doc. No. 37, p. 227.

 Id., at 210, 264. In 1948, the Secretary of the Wisconsin Oneida testified before a Senate Subcommittee that nearly all of the members of the Tribe could speak English fluently, although a few of the older members of the Tribe could not read and write. Hearings on S. 1683 before a Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 80th Cong., 2d Sess., 41 (1948). At least into the 1950’s, however, translators were required at general meetings to explain complicated actions of the Federal Government. Record Doc. No. 37, p. 225.

 The Wisconsin Oneida, for example, have been incorporated since 1937, id., at 207, 211-212, with a Constitution, bylaws, and a governing “Business Committee” which is elected by the tribal members. Id., at 211-212. See also id., at 37-41.

 In 1874, for example, a party of Wisconsin Oneida traveled to Albany, New York, to confer with a private law firm and members of the New York *269Tribe about viable alternatives of protest against the Federal Government. Id., at 237-238. The record contains numerous petitions and letters from the Tribe and tribal members in this century seeking the Government’s assistance in resolving miscellaneous problems concerning treaty rights, real property ownership, and Government entitlement programs. See Record Ex. Nos. 54, 55.

 See, e. g., Record Ex. No. 54 (1909 correspondence).

 Although there was much anger, resentment, and bitterness among the Oneida in the 19th century concerning their treatment by the United States, “conditions were being protested, but there was no specification of this particular treaty in the protest.” Record Doc. No. 37, p. 248. No specific action was taken to enforce this claim in a court of law until 1951 when the Oneida filed a petition against the United States before the Indian Claims Commission seeking judgment against the United States, as trustee, for the fair market value of the Oneida lands sold to the State of New York since the 18th century. See App. 43a.

 Partial Conclusions of Law, App. 152a. There is also a serious question whether the Oneida did not abandon their claim to the aboriginal lands in New York when they accepted the Treaty of Buffalo Creek of 1838, which ceded most of the Tribe’s lands in Wisconsin to the United States in exchange for a new reservation in the Indian Territory. The Treaty provided that the new reservation lands were to provide “a permanent home for all the New York Indians, now residing in the State of New York, or in Wisconsin, or elsewhere in the United States, who have no permanent *270homes.” 7 Stat. 551, Art. 2. “These proceedings, by which these tribes divested themselves of their title to lands in New York, indicate an intention on the part, both of the Government and the Indians, that they should take immediate possession of the tracts set apart for them in Kansas.” New York Indians v. United States, 170 U. S. 1, 21 (1898). Cf. United States v. Santa Fe R. Co., 314 U. S., at 358; n. 9, supra.

 See n. 9, supra.

 For example, the relevant portion of 28 U. S. C. § 2415(b) provides: “That an action to recover damages resulting from a trespass on lands of the United States;. . . may be brought within six years after the right of action accrues, except that such actions for or on behalf of a recognized tribe, band, or group of American Indians,. . . which accrued [prior to the date of enactment of this Act but under subsection (g) are deemed to have accrued on the date of enactment of this Act] may be brought on or before sixty days after the date of the publication of the list required by . . . the Indian Claims Act of 1982: Provided, That, for those claims that are on either of the two lists published pursuant to the Indian Claims Act of 1982, *271any right of action shall be barred unless the complaint is filed within (1) one year after the Secretary of the Interior has published in the Federal Register a notice rejecting such claim ...” (emphasis added).
The Court relies on the word “any" in the final clause of the statute and construes this as implicitly providing a federal statute of limitations for causes of action brought by Indian tribes on their own behalf, notwithstanding the unmistakable references throughout the statute and its legislative history to claims brought by the United States on behalf of Indians. See, e. g., H. R. Rep. No. 96-807, p. 2 (1980); H. R. Rep. No. 92-1267, pp. 2-8 (1972); S. Rep. No. 1328, 89th Cong., 2d Sess., 8-9 (1966); 126 Cong. Rec. 3289 (1980) (remarks of Sen. Melcher); id., at 3290 (remarks of Sen. Cohen); id., at 5745 (remarks of Rep. Clausen); 123 Cong. Rec. 22499 (1977) (remarks of Rep. Cohen); id., at 22507 (remarks of Rep. Dicks); id., at 22509 (remarks of Rep. Studds); id., at 22510 (remarks of Rep. Udall); ibid, (remarks of Rep. Yates). Even if the Court’s construction were correct, it does not establish that Congress intended to revive previously barred causes of action.

 Each of the statutes is phrased in a form indicating an intention to preserve the law as it existed on the date of passage. See, e. g., 25 U. S. C. § 233 {“[NJothing herein contained shall be construed as conferring jurisdiction on the courts of the State of New York or making applicable the laws of the State of New York in civil actions involving Indian lands or claims with respect thereto which relate to transactions or events transpiring prior to September 13, 1952”) (emphasis added); 28 U. S. C. § 2415(c) {“[NJothing herein shall be deemed to limit the time for bringing an action to establish the title to, or right of possession of, real or personal property”) (emphasis added).

 The comments of Representative Morris concerning the meaning of the proviso contained in 25 U. S. C. § 233, reflect an intent to “preserve their rights,” 96 Cong. Rec. 12460 (1950). The proviso was designed to preserve an “impartial” federal forum for resolving pre-existing Indian land claims and to ensure that federal law would be applied in deciding them. See Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida, 414 U. S. 661, 680-682 (1974). The application of laches as a federal doctrine of limitation in a federal forum is entirely consistent with this view.
As for § 2415 and its various amendments since 1966, the record is barren of any reference to revival. At most, Congress was of the view that *272nothing in § 2415 would “preclude” actions by the tribes themselves. See, e. g., 123 Cong. Rec. 22499 (1977) (remarks of Rep. Cohen). It may very well be that in view of the hospitable treatment that these ancient claims received in the lower federal courts, some Members of Congress may have assumed that there was no time bar to such actions. In the absence of legislation, however, the assumptions of individual Congressmen about the status of the common law are not enacted into positive law. In enacting the Indian Claims Limitation Act of 1982, Pub. L. 97-394, 96 Stat. 1976, note following 28 U. S. C. § 2415, Congress simply provided a 'procedure for exhausting the Federal Government’s responsibility, as trustee, for prosecuting meritorious claims — leaving this Court ultimately to decide whether claims brought by the tribes themselves were still alive.

 Indeed, if the statutes had that effect, the Court would have to resolve the question of their constitutionality. Cf. Stewart v. Keyes, 295 U. S. 403, 417 (1935).

 E. g., 25 U. S. C. § 640d-17(b) (“Neither laches nor the statute of limitations shall constitute a defense to any action authorized by this sub-chapter for existing claims if commenced within two years from December, 22, 1974”); § 653 (“If any claim or claims be submitted to said courts, they shall settle the equitable rights therein, notwithstanding lapse of time or statutes of limitation”); see also New York Indians v. United States, 170 U. S., at 35.

 U. S. Const. Art. Ill, § 3, cl. 2 (“no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the person attainted”). Cf. Adams v. Woods, 2 Cranch 336, 341 (1805) (“In a country where not even treason can be prosecuted after a lapse of three years, it could scarcely be supposed that an individual would remain for ever liable to a pecuniary forfeiture”).