Court Opinion

ID: 9532697
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:24:05.803694+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:48.972748
License: Public Domain

BOSSON, Judge (specially concurring). 28. I concur in the opinion of the Court and write separately only out of concern for what I regard as dubious authority accredited to Jim v. CIT Financial Services Corp., 87 N.M. 362, 533 P.2d 751 (1975). The question whether tribal laws and judgments should be analyzed under statutory full faith and credit, or under the more flexible principle of comity, is far from settled nation-wide. Although Jim appears to grant statutory full faith and credit to tribal laws, its actual holding is far narrower and there is little discussion of this complex issue. Scholarly commentary places that conclusion in doubt. As former Professor, now Judge, Canby writes: “Despite some argument over the matter, it is probable that tribal court judgments do not fall within that terminology,” referring to full faith and credit. William C. Canby, Jr., American Indian Law 173 (2d ed. 1988); see Felix S. Cohen, Handbook of Federal Indian Law 385 (1982); Fred L. Ragsdale, Jr., Problems in the Application of Full Faith and Credit for Indian Tribes, 7 N.M. L.Rev. 133 (1977). The more persuasive authority seems to prefer comity, in part because of the greater flexibility it affords both state and tribal courts. As much as this Court is obliged to follow Jim and its progeny, I would urge our Supreme Court to undertake a fresh examination of this issue, probably in another case with a more informative record, in light of more recent authority and changing state-tribal dynamics. Our state is ill-served by looking only to the past for guidance on this important issue that poses perplexing challenges for our judiciary well into the future.